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!1  lil"l'!t  i'lll  t*  I 


iiliitiiitiiiniii! 


FOR  PULPIT  AND   PLATFORM 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  •    BOSTON   •    CHICAGO  •    DALLAS 
ATLANTA  •    SAN    FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Limited 

LONDON  •    BOMBAY  •    CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Ltd. 

TORONTO 


FOR 

PULPIT  AND  PLATFORM 

A  HANDBOOK  ON  PREPARATION 

BY 

JOHK  MAHAN  ENGLISH,  D.D. 
II 

PROFESSOR   EMERITUS   OF   H0MILBTIC8 
IN   THE    NEWTON    THEOLOGI- 
CAL  INSTITUTION 


THE  MACMILLAN   COMPANY 
1919 

All  right*  reteroed 


OOPTSIOHT,   1919, 

By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.    Published  September,  19x9. 


J.  S.  CJuBhing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 

Numerous  works  on  public  religious  discourse 
have  been  published  that  present  the  subject  with 
minuteness  and  elaboration.  There  seems  to  be  a 
place  for  a  book  that  sets  forth  the  essentials  of 
effective  speech  in  a  less  amplified  form,  for  use 
by  busy  pastors,  by  speakers  on  various  kinds  of 
religious  topics,  and  as  a  book  of  reference  for 
students  in  theological  schools.  With  slight  change 
in  phraseology  the  principles  involved  are  equally 
applicable  to  those  who  wish  to  express  their  thoughts 
in  an  ordered  and  persuasive  way,  on  any  sort  of 
subject.  The  author  trusts  that  in  the  choice  of  ma- 
terials and  in  the  method  of  their  presentation  the 
work  will  be  found  to  be  practically  adapted  to  the 
foregoing  ends. 

With  the  spread  of  democracy,  public  speaking 
will  be  more  widely  practiced  in  the  immediate 
future,  and  it  is  imperative  that  it  shall  be  effective. 
If  this  handbook  shall  prove  to  be  of  service  in 
furthering  effectiveness  of  public  speech,  the  pur- 
pose of  the  author  in  its  publication  will  be  achieved. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/forpulpitplatforOOenglrich 


FOR  PULPIT  AND  PLATFORM 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  GATHERING  OF  MATERIALS 

The  discourses  of  the  best  preachers  seem  to  be 
made  easily.  There  are  evidently  plenty  more  where 
they  came  from.  This  is  true  of  such  men  as  South, 
Barrow,  Howe,  Robertson,  MacLaren,  Liddon, 
Parker,  Bushnell,  Brooks,  Lorimer.  The  open  se- 
cret of  their  success  is  that  they  put  their  strength 
and  time  into  the  toil  of  collecting  suitable  materials 
for  discourse.  That  is  to  say,  they  have  emphasized 
general  rather  than  special  preparation  for  preaching. 
Upon  success  here  hinges  largely  the  effectiveness 
of  a  settled  ministry.  The  drain  upon  such  a  ministry 
is  very  great.  It  is  far  in  excess  of  that  upon  any 
other  class  of  public  speakers.  It  is  a  standing 
wonder  with  some  how  any  preacher  can  sustain 
himself  in  the  same  pulpit  for  a  series  of  years. 
Some  preachers  barely  hold  on ;  they  live  in  constant 
dread  of  the  next  Sunday,  that  coming  event  which 
casts  its  shadow  before.  Not  only  are  they  on  the 
rack  of  perpetual  worry  and  strain  in  making  their 
B  1 


2/<  I ; /fi^dB  .i;»yLPiT  and  platform 

sermons,  but  they  are  doomed  to  a  second-  or  third- 
rate  pulpit  success.  They  are  living  from  hand  to 
mouth,  which,  in  preaching,  is  to  live  at  a  poor 
dying  rate.  Now  this  need  not  be.  A  minister 
ought  to  have  unbroken  and  abounding  joy  as  a 
preacher,  and  he  may  have,  if  he  is  ever  gathering 
rich  preaching  materials  from  the  wide,  fertile  field 
of  general  study. 

It  is  the  object  of  this  chapter  to  present  some  of 
the  chief  sources  from  which,  and  of  the  methods  by 
which,  the  preacher  may  possess  himself  of  an  ample 
stock  of  subject  matter  of  public  discourse. 

Success  in  gathering  homiletic  material  depends 
largely  upon  two  things :  the  preacher's  homiletic 
invention  and  mental  concentration. 

By  homiletic  invention  is  meant  the  aptitude  of  the 
mind  for  discovering  materials  suitable  for  preaching. 

The  term  "invention"  frequently,  perhaps  usually, 
has  a  signification  other  than  that  just  given.  Web- 
ster's definition  of  it  is :  "The  exercise  of  the  imagi- 
nation in  selecting  a  theme,  or  more  commonly  in 
contriving  the  arrangement  of  a  piece  or  the  method 
of  presenting  its  parts."  Professor  Wilkinson  says : 
"  Invention  in  oratory  is  the  process  of  discovering 
in  things  that  you  know  adaptation  for  the  effecting 
of  things  that  you  propose."  It  is  used  here  in  the 
somewhat  deeper  and  broader  sense  of  discovery  in 
the  process  of  investigation.    It  is  that  meaning 


THE  GATHERING  OF  MATERIALS  3 

of  the  term  intended  by  Marmontel  (quoted  by 
Vinet) :  "The  generality  of  writers  pass  and  re-pass 
over  mines  of  gold  a  thousand  times  without  sus- 
pecting their  existence.  Genius  alone  has  the 
instinct  which  gives  notice  of  the  riches  of  the  mine 
as  it  alone  has  the  power  of  penetrating  into  its 
bowels  and  drawing  thence  its  treasures'*;  and  by 
N.  J.  Burton :  "There  are  two  ways  of  reading ;  one 
the  memoriter  way,  the  mere  gathering  up  of  facts, 
and  the  other,  the  thoughtful,  brooding,  creative 
way;  the  way  that  finds  great  subjects  all  along  in 
the  stark  events  of  history,  so  that  they  are  not  stark, 
but  eminently  relational  and  prolific.'* 

Oratorical  invention  is  a  species  of  the  creative 
function  of  the  imagination,  as  are  the  mathematical, 
the  scientific,  the  philosophical,  the  mechanical,  and 
the  historical  imagination,  that  mysterious  ability 
of  the  mind  to  see  and  to  state  fundamental  principles 
in  these  various  regions  of  human  thinking. 

Psychologists  have  not  yet  fully  explored  the 
depths  of  this  imperial  power  of  the  imagination, 
but  the  best  of  them  agree  that  the  mere  representa- 
tion to  the  mind  of  the  materials  held  in  the  memory, 
or  the  picture-forming  quality  that  adorns  discourse 
with  imagery  are  not  its  chief  functions ;  but  that  it 
is  endowed  with  a  penetrative  or  creative  energy,  and 
that  this  is  its  crowning  glory.  Perhaps  no  man  in 
modern  times  has  been  a  truer  example,  in  the 


4  FOR  PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

scientific  sphere,  of  this  quaHty  of  the  imagination 
than  Lord  Kelvin,  of  whom  it  has  been  said  that  he 
possessed  "that  highest  of  intellectual  qualities,  the 
constructive  scientific  imagination,  which  ^bodies 
forth  the  forms  of  things  unknown,'  with  such 
definition  and  precision  that  the  mechanical  faculties 
work  up  to  the  conception  as  to  a  visible  model. " 

An  essential  phase  of  the  penetrating,  discovering 
quality  of  the  mind  is  called,  in  the  case  of  the 
preacher,  spiritual  insight  This  is  the  product  of 
the  working  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  him.  Not  by  a 
conscious  logical  process,  but  through  spiritual 
sympathies,  through  a  spiritually  clarified  and  en- 
lightened imagination,  which  equals  faith,  the  mind 
sees  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  and  instinctively,  as  it 
were,  seizes  upon  the  heart  of  its  meaning.  (See  I. 
Corinthians,  chapter  2.)  Spiritual  insight,  the  fruit 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  is  a  gift  of  God  in  answer  to 
prayer.  It  is  probably  true  that  the  men  who  have 
this  power  of  spiritual  insight  in  richest  degree  are 
the  men  who,  endowed  natively  with  imagination, 
are  most  spiritually  minded  through  communion  with 
God  —  Paul,  Spurgeon,  MacLaren,  Bushnell, 
Moody,  Phillips  Brooks.  How  indispensable,  then, 
is  it  seen  to  be  that  not  only  in  the  preparation  of 
a  sermon,  but  also  in  the  gathering  of  materials 
in  the  widest  sense,  the  preacher  should,  through 
prayer,  receive  the  anointing  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 


THE    GATHERING   OF   MATERIALS  5 

The  second  essential  in  the  preacher  to  the  gather- 
ing of  ample,  vital,  homiletic  materials  is  mental 
concentration  —  that  complete  intellectual  self- 
mastery  which  will  enable  him  to  put  himself  fully 
into  the  task  in  hand  and  accomplish  it  speedily 
and  thoroughly.  Dawdling  over  a  task  is  not  only 
to  consume  time,  which  the  preacher,  while  he  has 
all  there  is  of  it,  and  more  than  he  has  of  almost 
anything  else,  should  be  thoroughly  miserly  of,  but 
also  to  do  a  poor  quality  of  mental  work.  Dr. 
Chalmers  cultivated  this  power  of  concentration 
to  an  unusual  degree.  "Whatever  he  was  prosecut- 
ing he  was  for  the  time  totus  in  illo.  His  motto 
might  have  always  been,  'This  one  thing  I  do.' 
Whatever  he  took  up  with  he  could  separate  from 
all  other  things,  and  he  could  concentrate  himself 
upon  it."  He  wrote  his  fourth  astronomical  dis- 
course, one  of  the  most  elaborate  and  finished  of 
the  series,  at  odds  and  ends  of  time  amid  the  dis- 
traction of  travel  and  of  public  meetings,  and  in 
rooms  filled  with  talking  ministers.  Professor 
Allen  says  of  Phillips  Brooks :  "  He  had  the  capacity 
for  mental  concentration,  so  that  the  presence  of 
others  or  the  talk  going  on  around  him,  even  an 
interruption  from  a  caller,  was  no  disturbance  or 
injury  to  his  work."  Steven  in  "The  Psychology 
of  a  Christian  Soul"  gives  psychological  indorse- 
ment to  this  view,  "The  secret  of  all  highly  culti- 


6  FOR  PULPIT  AND   PLATFORM 

vated  life  is  the  power  of  concentrating  the  atten- 
tion." 

L  The  Study  of  the  Bible  in  Gathering  Ma- 
terials FOR  Public  Religious  Discourse 

The  preacher  in  his  quest  of  homiletic  materials  is 
privileged  to  enter  every  domain  of  knowledge. 
As  Cicero  said  of  the  secular  orator,  with  equal 
truth  it  may  be  said  of  the  sacred  orator :  "  Every 
kind  of  information  is  of  value  to  him."  There  is, 
however,  one  source  of  pulpit  matter  uniquely 
affluent,  one  mine  of  truth  quite  inexhaustible. 
It  is  the  Bible.  In  the  best  sense,  the  minister  is  a 
man  of  one  book,  and  that  book  the  Bible.  Professor 
Phelps  well  says:  "No  other  study  is  so  prolific 
of  the  finest  quality  and  variety  of  homiletic  materials 
as  the  study  of  the  Scriptures.  Once  full  of  them, 
and  with  a  mind  assimilated  to  their  quality,  with 
a  speech  which  holds  them  at  the  tongue's  end,  a 
preacher  need  never  exhaust  himself.  He  need 
never  rack  his  brain  or  roam  the  streets  for  some- 
thing to  say,  and  something  to  the  point.  The 
stream  is  perennial.  It  is  the  river  of  the  water  of 
life." 

Two  perils  beset  the  preacher  in  Biblical  study; 
one  is  that  he  will  study  books  on  the  Bible  rather 
than  the  Bible  itself.  The  other  is  that  in  the 
urgency  of  the  demand  of  the  next  Sunday's  sermon 


THE   GATHERING   OF  MATERIALS  7 

he  will  go  to  the  Bible  as  a  thesaurus  of  single,  iso- 
lated texts.  That  this  piecemeal  way  of  using  the 
Bible  has  been  all  too  prevalent  among  the  ministry 
there  can  be  no  doubt.  There  is  now  a  decided 
tendency  toward  a  more  excellent  method  of  studying 
the  Scriptures.  It  is  a  study  of  the  books  of  the 
Bible  as  continuous  compositions  pervaded  by  a 
single  controlling  purpose  on  the  part  of  the  writer, 
and  of  the  entire  Bible  as  containing  "an  organic 
and  progressive  revelation." 

What  shall  be  offered  in  the  present  chapter  is 
mainly  in  the  line  of  this  larger,  truer  method  of 
Bible  study  that  is  of  so  vital  concern  to  the  preacher 
in  our  time. 

1.  The  Books  of  the  Bible  in  Their  Historic  Setting 
The  historical  method  of  investigation  is  now 
recognized,  and  justly,  as  the  only  scientific  method. 
It  is  absolutely  necessary  to  a  correct  and  complete 
understanding  of  the  Bible,  and  underlies  and  pre- 
cedes all  other  kinds  of  Bible  study. 

This  method  of  Bible  study  is  urged  on  the  follow- 
ing grounds :  first,  because  the  contents  of  the  books 
of  the  Bible  came  through  men  and  bear  their 
impress. 

The  Bible  is,  in  the  best  sense,  an  historical  book. 
In  its  making  it  had  preeminently  to  do  with  living 
men.  Whatever  inspiration  did  for  its  authors 
in  its  inscrutable  psychological  process,  it  did  not 


8  FOR  PULPIT  AND  PLATFORM 

interfere  one  whit  with  the  fullest,  freest  working 
of  their  personalities.  Their  communications, 
whether  by  voice  or  by  pen,  contain  the  flavor  of 
their  individual  characteristics  and  experiences. 
Isaiah  is  in  his  prophecy ;  John  in  his  gospel ;  Peter 
and  Paul  in  their  addresses  and  letters.  You  can- 
not fully  understand  the  product  without  first 
knowing  something  of  the  human  producer  and  of 
his  environment.  Earnest,  reverent  Bible  study 
to-day  is  making  this  more  and  more  manifest. 

It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind,  moreover,  that  these 
human  authors  of  the  books  of  the  Bible  were,  many 
of  them,  public  men.  In  order  therefore  adequately 
to  comprehend  their  teachings,  we  must  know  some- 
thing of  their  surroundings.  These  men  were  not 
recluses  giving  forth  their  oracles  from  solitary  retire- 
ment. They  lived  in  the  stir  and  rush  of  pressing 
public  affairs.  Some  of  them,  the  prophets  partic- 
ularly, mingled  with  leading  men  and  were  the 
statesmen  of  their  day.  They  were  thus  practical 
men  of  the  world.  We  need  but  to  run  over  the  list 
of  the  chief  makers  of  the  Bible  to  verify  the  fore- 
going statements.  From  Moses  to  Malachi,  from 
Jesus  to  Paul,  they  were  men  of  the  times. 

This  method  of  Bible  study  is  urged:  secondly, 
because  the  main  contents  of  the  Bible  were  de- 
livered to  men  to  help  them  in  the  stress  of  personal, 
spiritual  needs. 


THE    GATHERING   OF   MATERIALS  9 

The  truths  of  the  Bible  were  lived  before  they  were 
recorded.  They  went  into  character  before  they 
went  into  a  book.  Indeed,  they  went  into  a  book 
because  they  first  went  into  character,  else  they 
would  not  have  been  worth  putting  into  a  book. 
The  truths  of  Paul's  Epistles,  for  instance,  did  service 
in  evangelization  and  edification  prior  to  his  writing 
them  down  on  parchment.  They  must  have  been 
formulated,  more  or  less,  in  his  own  mind  in  connec- 
tion with  his  personal  experience  of  them  and  the 
triumph  he  saw  them  make  in  saving  men.  A 
knowledge,  then,  of  Paul  —  of  his  experience,  of  the 
practical  aim  of  his  teaching,  that  which  called  it 
forth,  and  the  environment  in  which  that  aim  was 
prosecuted  —  is  essential  to  the  completest  under- 
standing of  the  truths  he  used  in  the  service  of  his 
aim. 

Besides,  the  fact  that  Bible  truths  were  originally 
used  to  meet  personal,  spiritual  needs  is  of  prime 
homiletic  significance.  The  preacher  of  to-day, 
like  prophet  and  apostle  of  old,  has  as  his  central 
aim  the  building  of  character  and  the  molding  of 
conduct.  By  the  study  of  their  discourses  and 
writings,  his  sermons  will  take  on  the  charactersitics 
of  their  communications  —  concreteness,  practical- 
ness, intensity,  prominent  in  the  most  effective 
preaching. 

Furthermore,  the  preacher  should  take  into  ac- 


10  FOR  PULPIT  AND  PLATFORM 

count  the  fact  that,  broadly  speaking,  the  men  to 
whom  Bible  truth  first  came  and  through  whom  it 
went  forth  for  severe  ethical  ends  were  Orientals. 
They  were  men  of  vivid  imagination  and  of  profound 
feeling;  a  combination  of  marked  homiletic  value 
to  the  modern  preacher.  Professor  Phelps  has  said  : 
"I  must  believe  that  it  was  not  without  a  wise 
forecast  of  the  world's  necessities  and  an  insight 
into  human  nature  all  around,  that  God  ordained 
that  the  Bible,  which  should  contain  our  best  models 
of  sanctified  culture,  should  be  constructed  in  the 
East,  and  by  the  inspiration  of  minds  of  an  eastern 
stock  and  discipline,  whose  imaginative  faculty 
could  conceive  such  a  poem  as  the  Song  of  Solomon, 
and  whose  emotive  nature  could  be  broken  up  like 
the  fountains  of  a  great  deep." 

In  view,  then,  of  the  foregoing  considerations,  the 
preacher  needs  to  make  himself  familiar  with  the 
various  elements  in  the  historic  setting  of  the  books 
of  the  Bible;  with  the  character,  the  experiences, 
the  surroundings  of  the  writer,  and  of  the  readers  of 
a  book;  with  the  object  of  the  writing  of  a  book; 
with  whatever  will  make  the  contents  of  a  book  live 
again  as  they  lived  at  the  time  of  their  delivery  or 
composition. 


THE   GATHERING   OF  MATERIALS         11 

2.  The  Bible  by  Books 

This  method  emphasizes  the  mastery  of  the 
contents  of  a  book  of  the  Bible  in  the  light  of  the 
leading  aim  of  its  writer.  For  the  Bible  is  a  library 
rather  than  a  single  book. 

This  telescopic  sort  of  study  should  accompany 
the  microscopic  with  grammar  and  lexicon.  The 
first  is  essential  to  the  second  in  order  to  grasp  the 
exact  meaning  of  capital  words  and  phrases  of  a 
book.  It  calls  for  much  careful  reading  of  the 
English  Bible,  that  the  preacher  may  get  into  the 
atmosphere  and  appreciate  the  movement  of  thought 
of  the  book.  But  few  can  accomplish  these  two 
ends  by  reading  the  book  in  the  original  Hebrew  or 
Greek. 

3.  The  Individual  Words  of  the  Bible,  Especially 
Those  Which  Express  the  Capital  Truths  of 
Christianity 

Every  great  book  has  its  capital  words  which  give 
it  its  peculiar  significance.  This  is  uniquely  true 
of  the  Bible.  Its  contents  cannot  be  mastered 
apart  from  the  mastery  of  its  capital  words.  Cole- 
ridge has  said  on  the  importance  of  word  study : 
"There  are  cases  in  which  more  knowledge  of  more 
value  may  be  conveyed  by  the  history  of  a  word  than 
by  the  history  of  a  campaign.    In  order  to  get  the 


12  FOR  PULPIT  AND  PLATFORM 

full  sense  of  a  word,  we  should  first  present  to  our 
minds  the  visual  image  that  forms  its  primary 
meaning."  Sanday's  "Commentary  on  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans,"  pages  221-239,  furnishes  a  fine 
specimen  of  such  study.  The  following  are  some  of 
the  central  words  of  the  Scriptures:  law,  sin, 
faith,  love,  righteousness,  flesh,  heart,  salvation, 
blood,  death,  propitiation.  In  order  to  derive  the 
largest  benefit  from  such  study  the  Bible  should  be 
examined  with  the  aid  of  the  best  Commentaries, 
Lexicons,  and  Concordances. 

4.  Subjects  or  Doctrines 

This  method  is  closely  allied  with  the  study  of 
words,  and  includes  such  subjects  as  Incarnation, 
Atonement,  Repentance,  Regeneration,  Forgiveness, 
Prayer,  God,  Christ,  The  Holy  Spirit.  Dale's 
"Christian  Doctrine"  is  fruit  of  such  study  and  a 
good  example  of  it. 

This  sort  of  study : 

a.  Develops  the  thinking  power  of  preacher  and 

people. 
6.  Shows  the  character  and  the  value  of  the 

Christian  religion. 
c.  Yields  an  abundance  of  the  most  valuable 

truths  for  preaching. 

u 


THE   GATHERING   OP  MATERIALS         13 

5.   Careful  Exegetical   Study   of  Specially   Difficult 
and  Cruoial  Passages  of  Scripture 

Examples:  Matthew  xii.  31  sq. ;  Luke  x.  21,  22; 
Introduction  to  John's  Gospel ;   Romans  iii.  21-26. 

Galatians  iii.  20 ;  Ephesians  iii.  14  sq. ;  Philip- 
pians  ii.  5  sq. 

a:  This  kind  of  study  is  necessary  to  complete 
mastery  of  particular  books  and  of  the  entire 
Bible. 

b.  It  stimulates  the  critical  exegetical  habit. 

c.  It    strengthens    the    mind    to    grapple    with 

difficulties. 

d.  It  secures  some  of  the  most  valuable  preaching 

materials. 

6.    The  Comparative  Study  of  the  Books  of  the  Bible 

Examples:  Genesis  and  Matthew;  Exodus  and 
Matthew;  Genesis  (especially  the  record  of  Abra- 
ham) and  Luke;  Joshua  and  Acts;  Leviticus  and 
Hebrews ;  Isaiah  and  Romans ;  John  and  Romans ; 
I.  Corinthians  and  Ephesians. 

One  advantage  of  this  kind  of  study  is  the  discov- 
ery of  each  Biblical  writer's  particular  viewpoint  of 
truth;  for  instance,  the  difference  in  this  respect 
between  John  and  Paul,  or  what  is  known  as  Biblical 
Theology. 


14  FOR  PULPIT  AND  PLATFORM 

7.  The  Characters  of  the  Bible 

Abraham,  Jacob,  Joseph,  Moses,  Joshua,  Samuel, 
David,  Amos,  Hosea,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel, 
Jesus,  John,  Peter,  Paul. 

This  is  a  valuable  source  of  homiletic  material 
because : 

a.  These  men  were  conveyors  of  truth  from  God 

to  men. 

b.  They  were  men  of  their  times. 

c.  Their   personal   characteristics    have   bearing 

upon  men  to-day. 

8.  The  Addresses  of  the  Bible 

9.  The  Conversations  of  Jesus 

These  two  contain  much  of  the  most  valuable 
material  for  preaching. 

10.  The  Sociological  Aspects  of  the  Contents  of  the 
Bible 

A  source  of  study  that  is  becoming  increasingly 
prominent  and  is  contributing  choice  materials  for 
the  pulpit. 

II.  History 
1.  Church  History 

The  history  of  the  Church,  Jewish  and  Christian 
(including  the  development  of  Christian  Doctrine), 


THE   GATHERING  OF  MATERIALS         15 

IS  a  fruitful  kind  of  homiletic  study.  It  yields  the 
preacher  (a)  inspiration,  from  fellowship  with  a 
long  and  distinguished  line  of  workers  in  realms 
kindred  to  his  own.  How  can  he  become  acquainted 
with  the  characters  and  the  labors  of  such  men  as 
Polycarp,  Justyn  Martyr,  Origen,  Chrysostom, 
Basil,  Augustine,  Wicliffe,  Luther,  Knox,  Latimer, 
Whitefield,  John  Wesley,  Bishop  Hannington,  John 
G.  Baton,  and  not  be  thrilled  as  he  thinks  that  they 
and  he  are  in  the  "goodly  fellowship'*  of  coworkers 
with  God;  (6)  mental  and  volitional  quickening 
from  contact  with  great  thinkers  and  influential 
personalities;  (c)  intellectual  and  spiritual  poise 
when  he  confronts  new  phases  of  Christian  truth, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  keen  appreciation  of  their 
value  if  such  they  have;  (d)  material  of  a  high 
order  for  confirmation  of  divine  truth  in  discourse 
along  the  following  lines :  (1)  the  high  intellectual 
quality  of  the  central  Christian  truths  in  that,  for 
their  unfolding,  they  have  required  the  severest 
thinking  of  the  first  order  of  minds.  For  instance, 
the  unfolding  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  (Atha- 
nasius,  Basil,  the  two  Gregories) ;  of  the  doctrine  of 
man  (Augustine) ;  of  the  doctrine  of  justification 
by  faith  (Luther) ;  it  answers  the  objection  some- 
times raised  against  Christianity  that  it  is  not 
sujBSciently  recondite  to  claim  the  intellectual  respect 
of  men  of  dialectic  acumen  and  ripe  culture ;  (2)  its 


16  FOR  PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

adaptation  to  meet  the  needs  of  an  aroused  con- 
science (Paul,  Augustine,  Luther) ;  (3)  its  ability 
to  stir  the  heroic  feelings,  to  nerve  the  will  to  the 
achieving  of  noblest  deeds,  and  to  build  holy  char- 
acter (Jonathan  Edwards) ;  (4)  its  preserving 
influence  upon  civilization;  (5)  material  for  illus- 
tration in  preaching.  Especially  is  the  history  of 
the  Jewish  Church  valuable  for  illustrative  purposes, 
in  three  aspects:  its  external  history;  its  institu- 
tions; its  great  characters.  "I  cannot  but  think 
that  it  would  be  well  if  we  made  a  much  greater  use 
of  the  history  of  the  Old  Testament  to  illustrate  the 
Gospel  of  the  New.  The  two  have  an  essential 
connection  with  each  other,  and  so  they  come 
together  with  peculiar  sympathy  and  fitness."  — 
Phillips  Brooks. 

Dean  Farrar  has  two  suggestive  articles  in  the 
Homiletic  Review  for  May  and  June,  1898,  on 
"How  Best  to  Use  Church  History  in  Preaching." 

2.  General  History 

History  is  valuable  to  the  preacher  in  the  following 
respects:  "Histories  make  men  wise."  —  Bacon; 
"Historical  study  furnishes  a  first-rate  general 
discipline  on  reasoning  of  the  practical  kind  most 
needed  in  the  affairs  of  life;  it  is  a  prime  aid  to 
breadth  of  view  and  of  sympathy."  —  Andrews  ; 
it   cultivates   the   historical    imagination;    it    in- 


THE   GATHERING   OF  MATERIALS         17 

creases  the  store  of  valuable  knowledge ;  it  provides 
a  practical  demonstration  of  the  wickedness  of 
mankind  and  of  their  need  of  the  Christian  religion 
with  its  peculiar  circle  of  truths ;  it  is  an  exhibition 
of  the  providence  of  God  in  preserving  the  best 
human  institutions.  ''A  study  of  history  teaches 
us  that  through  the  ages  there  has  been  a  forward 
ethical  and  spiritual  movement  sometimes  checked 
and  not  continuous  in  a  direct  unswerving  line,  but 
with  a  definite,  increasing  upward  tendency."  — 
Clifford.  It  is,  like  sacred  history,  one  of  the  most 
fruitful  sources  of  material  for  illustration;  "to 
the  public  speaker  either  in  the  pulpit  or  on  the 
platform  a  knowledge  of  history  is  indispensable 
for  the  illustration  of  his  argument." 

III.  Biography  ^ 

"I  think  I  would  rather  have  written  a  great 
biography  than  a  great  book  of  any  other  sort,  as  I 
would  have  rather  painted  a  great  portrait  than  any 
other  kind  of  picture."  —  Phillips  Brooks. 

Biography  ranks  very  high  in  its  usefulness  to  the 
preacher.  Its  chief  value  to  him  is  in  the  following 
directions : 

It  is  an  admirable  teacher  of  human  nature.  In 
some  respects  it  outranks  the  preacher's  direct  study 

*  Appendix  I. 


18  FOR  PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

of  living  men.  This  is  true  especially  if  the  biog- 
raphy is  pretty  full  of  correspondence,  as  in  Stanley's 
Arnold,  and  Prothero's  Stanley.  The  Independent, 
in  a  review  of  the  life  of  Charles  Loring  Brace,  said  : 
"He  opened  himself  to  his  friends  in  his  correspond- 
ence as  few  men  have  ever  done.  This  is  the  more 
remarkable  as,  in  his  personal  relations,  without 
being  distant  or  cold,  he  was  reserved  about  himself, 
certainly  not  disposed  to  be  free.  In  his  letters  all 
lies  open ;  you  read  him  to  the  bottom  of  his  heart, 
in  a  delightful  sincerity  which  is  as  free  from  egotism 
as  the  bloom  of  a  rose."  Biography  emphasizes 
that  most  important  of  lessons  for  the  preacher, 
viz. :  the  distinct  individuality  of  every  human  life. 
It  unveils  a  man's  inner  character  in  the  working 
of  his  springs  of  action  —  the  rich  region  of  motives. 
It  exhibits  his  strength  and  his  weakness,  his  virtues 
and  his  faults,  the  variety  and  complexity  of  his 
experiences;  his  surroundings  —  in  a  word,  what- 
ever makes  up  a  human  life  as  the  preacher  needs 
to  know  it.  It  develops  sympathy  with  men; 
it  furnishes  high  incentive  to  worthy  character  and 
achievement.  If  he  did  it  why  may  not  I  try  to  do 
it?  The  illustrations  gleaned  from  biography  are 
among  the  best  for  public  religious  discourse. 
People  are  interested  in  persons.  Whatever  is  drawn 
from  the  actual  experience  of  men  comes  home  to  a 
congregation. 


THE   GATHERING   OF  MATERIALS         19 

In  ministerial  biography  five  classes  of  men  should 
receive  special  attention : 

1.  Those  who  have  lived  at  critical  periods  in  the 

history  of  the  church.  —  Paul,  Ambrose, 
Chrysostom,  Augustine,  Luther,  Wesley, 
Whitefield,  Edwards. 

2.  Those  who  knew  human  nature.  —  Chrysos- 

tom, Bunyan,  Wesley,  James,  Spurgeon, 
Hannington,  MacLeod,  Lyman  Beecher, 
Henry  Ward  Beecher,  Kirk,  Goodell. 

3.  Quickening  thinkers.  —  Edwards,  Robertson, 

Bushnell. 

4.  Those  who  had  the  art  of  putting  things.  — 

Chrysostom,  Bunyan,  Robertson,  MacLaren, 
Guthrie,  Bushnell,  Brooks. 

5.  Those  conspicuously  successful  in  compassing 

the  ends  of  the  ministry.  —  Baxter,  Simeon, 
Spurgeon,     McCheyne,     Payson,     James, 
Lyman  Beecher,  Goodell. 
A  preacher's  reading  in  biography  should  take  a 
wide  range.     The  lives  of  statesmen,  orators,  politi- 
cians,  scientists,    literary   men,    artists,    ministers, 
missionaries,  and  others  should  secure  his  attention. 

A  SELECTED  LIST  OF  BIOGRAPHIES 

Missionaries 

Francis  of  Assisi Sabatier 

Adoniram  Judson Wayland,  Judson 


20  FOR   PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

William  Carey Smith 

Alexander  Duff .     .   Smith 

David  Livingstone Blaikie 

James  Hannington Dawson 

Robert  and  Mary  Moffat Moffat 

A.  M.  Mackay Mackay 

Joseph  Hardy  Neesima Hardy 

Henry  Martyn Smith,  Page 

J.  G.  Paton Paton 

Coleridge  Patteson Yonge,  Page 

Robert  Morrison Townsend 

Samuel  A.  Crowther Page,  Partridge 

John  K.  Mackenzie Bryson 

Griffith  John Thompson 

John  Williams Ellis,  Campbell 

Moravian  Missions Thompson 

Great  Missionaries  of  the  Church Creegan 

The  New  Acts  of  the  Apostles     .......      Pierson 

Diary  of  a  Japanese  Convert Uchimura 

David  Brainerd Sherwood 

John  L.  Nevius Nevius 

My  Life  and  Times Hamlin 

Ministers 

Chrysostom .    Stephens 

Bernard  of  Clairvaux Storrs 

John  Colet Lupton 

John  Knox Taylor 

John  Bunyan Brown 

John  Howe Rogers 

Richard  Baxter Orme 

George  Whitefield Tyerman,  Gillies,  Belcher 

John  Wesley Tyerman,  Winchester 


THE   GATHERING   OF  MATERIALS         21 

Charles  Simeon Carus 

John  Henry  Newman Barry 

F.  W.  Robertson Brooke 

Augustus  Hare Hare 

Charles  Kingsley Kingsley 

Samuel  Wilberforce Wilberforce 

Arthur  P.  Stanley Prothero 

F.  D.  Maurice Maurice 

F.  W.  Farrar Farrar 

Murray  McCheyne Bonar 

Norman  McLeod McLeod 

Thomas  Chalmers Hanna 

Thomas  Guthrie Guthrie 

Henry  Drummond     .............    Smith 

Christmas  Evans Hood 

Charles  H.  Spurgeon      ....       Autobiography,  Shindler 
Joseph  Parker  ....    Autobiography,  Dawson,  Adamson 

Robert  W.  Dale Dale 

Newman  Hall Autobiography 

Gipsy  Smith Autobiography 

Hugh  Price  Hughes Hughes 

Jonathan  Edwards Allen 

Nathaniel  Emmons Ide,  Park 

Lyman  Beecher Beecher 

Edward  Payson Cummings,  Parishioner 

Edward  N.  Kirk Mears 

Austin  Phelps Phelps 

T.  L.  Cuyler Autobiography 

C.  L.  Goodell Currier 

Horace  Bushnell Bushnell 

Henry  Ward  Beecher     .    Beecher  and  Scoville,  Abbott,  As 

His  Friends  Saw  Him 
Charles  G.  Fiimey Autobiography,  Wright 


22  FOR  PULPIT  AND   PLATFORM 

Dwight  L.  Moody Moody 

Charles  Hodge Hodge 

J.  Addison  Alexander Alexander 

James  McCosh Sloane 

John  Hall Hall 

Maltbie  D.  Babcock Robinson 

John  H.  Barrows Barrows 

Francis  Wayland Wayland 

Baron  Stowe Stockbridge 

Jacob  Knapp Autobiography 

S.  H.  Cone Cone 

Bamas  Sears Hovey 

Richard  Fuller Cathcart 

James  P.  Boyce Broadus 

John  A.  Broadus Robertson 

E.  G.  Robinson Johnson 

A.  J.  Gordon Gordon 

W.  E.  Channing Channing 

E.  S.  Gannett Gannett 

J.  F.  Clarke Autobiography 

Theodore  Parker Chadwick 

Phillips  Brooks      ....  Allen,  As  His  Friends  Knew  Him 

Stephen  H.  Tyng Tyng 

Matthew  Simpson Crooks 

Footsteps  in  a  Parish Stone 

Recollections Gladden 

John  Clifford Bateman 

A  Preacher's  Story  of  His  Work Rainsford 

Alexander  MacLaren MacLaren 

T.  T.  Munger Bacon 

A.  M.  Fau-bau-n Selbie 

From  Romance  to  Reality .  Mabie 

Edward  Judson     .    .    .    •    * Sears 


THE   GATHERING   OF   MATERIALS         23 

Writers,  Statesmen,  Lawyers,  Etc. 

Samuel  Johnson Boswell 

Walter  Scott Lockhart 

Thomas  B.  Macaulay Trevelyan 

Earl  of  Shaftesbury .      Hodder 

Thomas  Arnold Stanley 

John  Stuart  Mill Autobiography 

Alfred  Tennyson Tennyson 

Robert  Browning Chesterton 

John  Ruskin     .     .     .      Autobiography  (Prseterita)  Harrison 

William  E.  Gladstone Morley 

Moncure  D.  Conway Autobiography 

Napoleon  Bonaparte Sloane 

George  Miiller Pierson,  Autobiography 

Daniel  Webster Harvey 

Rufus  Choate Neilson 

James  Russell  Lowell Scudder 

R.  W.  Emerson Cabot,  Holmes 

George  F.  Hoar Autobiography 

U.  S.  Grant Autobiography 

Campaigning  with  Grant Porter 

Charles  Loring  Brace Brace 

Henry  Clay  Trumbull Howard 

Memories  of  Yale  Life  and  Men Dwight 

Andrew  D.  White Autobiography 

The  Making  of  An  American,  An  Autobiography  .     .     .  Riis 
Up  from  Slavery.    An  Autobiography      .     .     .    Washington 

Studies  in  Contemporary  Biography Bryce 

English  Men  of  Letters  Series Morley 

American  Men  of  Letters  Series Warner 

Men  of  the  Bible  Series Perowne 

American  Statesmen Morse 


24  FOR   PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

American  Religious  Leaders 

An  American  Citizen ;  Life  of  W.  H.  Baldwin,  Jr.      .  Brooks 

Nathaniel  Hawthorne Hawthorne 

A  Memoir  of  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson Cabot 

Reminiscences       Angell 

The  Life  of  John  Bright Trevelyan 

Thomas  B.  Reed McCall 

Charles  Francis  Adams Autobiography 

Samuel  Billings  Capen Hawkins 

IV.  Poetry 

Professor  Thayer,  the  eminent  New  Testament 
exegete  in  the  Harvard  Divinity  School,  used  strongly 
to  advise  every  preacher  to  study  poetry  extensively. 
There  are  several  good  reasons  why  the  preacher 
should  study  poetry:  It  contains  the  sublimest 
thoughts  of  the  human  mind  —  thoughts  that  are 
the  fruit  of  the  understanding  "aerated  by  the 
imagination,^'  which  makes  them  "so  thoroughly 
cosmopolitan";  it  cultivates  the  esthetic  taste, 
especially  by  the  rhythm  of  its  language.  This  is 
of  marked  value  to  the  preacher  because  of  the 
beauty  of  the  Christian  religion,  of  which  he  is  a 
minister;  love,  faith,  hope,  peace,  joy,  humility, 
self-sacrifice  —  the  content  of  the  Christian  char- 
acter —  are  beautiful.  "Poetry  is  simply  the  most 
beautiful,  impressive,  and  widely  effective  mode 
of  saying  things,  and  hence  its  importance."  — 
M.    Arnold.    It  cultivates    the  imagination;     it 


THE   GATHERING   OF   MATERIALS         25 

explores  and  unfolds  the  depths  and  complexity 
of  human  nature.  This  is  preeminently  true  of  the 
dramatic  poetry  of  Shakespeare.  What  phase  of 
human  nature  has  escaped  his  marvelous  insight? 
In  furnishing  the  preacher  with  a  knowledge  of  men 
he  stands  next  to  the  Bible  —  the  incomparable 
source  of  insight  into  the  workings  of  the  human 
heart;  it  stirs  the  deepest,  tenderest,  human  emo- 
tions ;  it  is  valuable  for  occasional  quotation.  The 
preacher  should  quote  poetry  sparingly,  briefly, 
aptly.  If  quoted  extensively  it  becomes  a  patch 
upon  discourse,  although  a  brilliant  one,  instead  of 
the  bloom  on  the  cheek  of  the  peach.  The  poets  of 
greatest  value  to  the  preacher  are :  Dante,  Shakes- 
peare, Milton,  Wordsworth,  Tennyson,  Browning. 

V.  Fiction 

Novels  of  the  best  grade  are  excellent  teachers  of 
psychology,  since  they  portray  human  love,  human 
motives,  and  human  conduct  in  their  most  subtle 
and  tangled  workings.  In  this  respect  such  writers 
as  Nathaniel  Hawthorne  and  George  Eliot  are 
particularly  helpful  to  the  preacher ;  a  novel  of  the 
highest  rank  also  offers  a  good  training  for  the 
imagination,  the  taste,  and  style.  It  is  valuable  for 
occasional  brief  quotation.  Scott,  Thackeray, 
Dickens,  George  Eliot,  Hawthorne,  still  remain  the 
best  novelists  for  the  Christian  preacher. 


26  FOR   PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

VI.  Orations  of  Effective  Speakers 

Professor  Wilkinson  says  of  these :  "  Among  all 
the  works  of  the  mind  of  man,  no  other  class  of 
productions  will  aid  you  so  directly  and  so  richly 
to  this  end,  namely,  the  knowledge  which  concerns 
the  constitution  and  the  habit  of  the  human  heart, 
as  that  *  library  of  eloquence  and  reason'  which  is 
made  up  of  the  surviving  spoken  words  of  first- 
rate  orators." 

The  preacher  addresses  assemblies  of  men,  and 
these  have  a  character  all  their  own.  These  orations 
were  delivered  usually  to  large  audiences,  and  often 
with  a  persuasive  aim.  The  critical  study,  therefore, 
of  the  masters  of  secular  speech,  as  to  method,  style, 
facts,  incidents,  references,  pithy  sayings,  etc.,  is 
valuable  in  yielding  to  the  preacher  a  knowledge 
of  men  as  they  conduct  themselves  in  assemblies, 
and  the  most  effective  ways  of  reaching  them  through 
public  address.  The  best  sermons  should  be  studied 
in  the  same  way  and  for  the  same  purposes. 

Goodrich's  "English  Eloquence  and  Debate," 
though  an  old  book,  is  especially  helpful  in  the 
analysis  of  effective  public  speaking. 

VII.  Newspapers  and  Periodicals 

Newspapers  and  periodicals,  secular  and  religious, 
of  the  highest  grade,  reflect  the  world  in  which  the 


THE   GATHERING   OF  MATERIALS         27 

preacher  lives  and  to  which  he  ministers.  They  are 
of  increasing  value  to  him.  They  often  contain  the 
most  practical  and  suggestive  material  that  gets 
into  print,  and  most  of  which  never  appears  in  book 
form.  The  New  York  Times ,  for  instance,  is  a  library 
in  itself.  Such  a  periodical  as  the  Hibbert  Journal 
and  the  other  leading  magazines  of  England  and 
America  are  of  prime  value  to  the  modern  preacher. 
The  best  missionary  periodicals,  as  showing  the 
spread  and  influence  of  the  Christian  religion  in  its 
evangelistic,  educational,  and  social  features,  should 
have  large  place  in  a  preacher's  reading. 

To  the  foregoing  range  of  study  could  well  be 
added  essays,  books  of  travel,  scientific  and  philo- 
sophical works,  works  on  art,  and  art  itself,  as  the 
preacher  has  opportunity  to  study  paintings  and 
sculpture. 

VIII.  The  Study  of  Nature 

That  is,  not  from  a  scientific  point  of  view,  but  as 
the  natural  world  falls  under  the  eye  of  a  thoughtful, 
appreciative  observer.     Its  value  is  twofold. 

1.   It  beautifies  the  mind 

Beauty  predominates  in  the  world  of  nature  over 
sublimity.  Beauty  is  its  outstanding  quality  —  the 
beauty  of  plant  and  tree,  of  color,  of  sky.  Professor 
Park  has  said;    "Never  lose  an  opportunity  for 


28  FOR  PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

seeing  anything  beautiful.  Beauty  is  God's  hand- 
writing, a  wayside  sacrament.  The  reason  for 
noticing  the  beauties  of  nature  and  art  is  that  they 
make  the  soul  beautiful,  and  thus  enable  it  to  com- 
bine the  graces  of  thought  with  graces  of  language." 
Canon  Mozley's  "  Sermon  on  Nature ;  the  Awak- 
ening of  the  Modern  Mind  to  the  Beauty  of  Nature," 
in  his  University  Sermons,  is  a  valuable  aid  to  the 
preacher. 

2.   Its  illustrative  material 

This  is  owing  to  the  close  analogy  between  the 
natural  world  and  the  spiritual  world.  Professor 
Drummond's  "Natural  Law  in  the  Spiritual  World" 
may  receive  the  condemnation  of  expert  scientists, 
but  it  is  very  suggestive  to  the  Christian  preacher. 
The  Book  that  furnishes  him  his  message  richly 
abounds  in  the  use  of  illustrations  from  the  natural 
world ;  notably.  Job,  the  Psalms,  the  Prophets,  and 
Jesus.  Illustrations  from  nature  seem  to  be  endowed 
with  the  quality  of  bodying  forth,  making  visible 
and  tangible,  as  it  were,  the  unseen  spiritual  truths 
of  the  Christian  religion,  and  of  Christian  character. 
As  examples  of  this,  note  the  sublime  theophany  of 
the  18th  Psalm,  verses  7-16,  God's  deliverance  of 
his  servant  from  the  power  of  evil  and  of  all  earthly 
foes,  and  Goldsmith's  portrayal  of  the  calm  peace 
and  heavenly  sublimity  of  the  village  pastor,  in  the 


THE   GATHERING   OF   MATERIALS         29 

"Deserted  Village,"  which  contains,  as  some  think, 
one  of  the  finest  similes  in  the  English  language. 

"His  ready  smile  a  parent's  warmth  expresst, 
Their  welfare  pleased  him,  and  their  cares  distresst, 
To  them  his  heart,  his  love,  his  grief  were  given. 
But  all  his  serious  thoughts  had  rest  in  heaven. 
As  some  tall  cliff,  that  lifts  its  awful  form, 
Swells  from  the  vale,  and  midway  leaves  the  storm. 
Though  round  its  breast  the  rolhng  clouds  are  spread. 
Eternal  sunshine  settles  on  its  head." 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  ENRICHING  OF  THE  MENTAL  LIFE 

As  the  preacher  surveys  the  scope  of  study  that 
has  been  suggested  in  the  preceding  chapter  and  that 
he  is  expected  to  prosecute,  it  is  easy  for  him  to 
become  confused  and  discouraged.  He  may  well 
ask  himself :  In  the  midst  of  the  constant  pressure 
of  the  multiform  duties  of  a  modern  pastorate  how 
can  I  command  time  for  such  general  study  ?  Where 
shall  I  begin,  what  shall  I  include,  and  how  shall  I 
do  it  ?  The  general  answer  is  that  he  is  not  presumed 
to  pursue  more  than  one  or  two  courses  of  study  at 
a  time.  Each  preacher  is  to  make  a  wise  selection 
that  will  meet  his  particular  needs  at  a  given  stage 
of  his  ministry.  The  present  chapter  is  intended 
to  offer  encouragement  and  suggestions  to  busy 
ministers  as  students  of  books.  Every  preacher 
is  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune.  He  can  become 
what,  under  God,  he  is  determined  to  become.  The 
ministry  is  full  of  men  who  have  not  failed,  but  who 
have  not  achieved  all  that  they  could  and  ought 
to  have  achieved.  They  have  not  been  willing  to 
pay  the  price  of  hard,  unremitting  toil.    They  have 

30 


THE   ENRICHING   OF   THE   MENTAL   LIFE    31 

been  second  rate  in  their  ability  and  in  their  success, 
whereas  they  should  have  been  first  rate  and  could 
have  been.  No  man  has  achieved  the  summit  of 
usefulness,  no  matter  how  great  his  native  gifts, 
apart  from  severe  labor.^ 

I.  Incentives  to  the  Enriching  of  the  Mental 
Life 

1.  The  Bible,  which  the  preacher  especially 
studies,  and  from  which  he  draws  his  message,  is  the 
greatest  mental  fertilizer. 

(1)  It  contains  the  regnant  ideas  of  the  Christian 
religion.  And  they  are  the  greatest  ideas  that  have 
entered  the  human  mind. 

(2)  They  are  expressed  through  virile  minds,  and 
partake  of  their  mental  vitality.  Amos,  Isaiah, 
Jeremiah,  Jesus,  Paul. 

(3)  The  Bible  contains  in  its  literary  expression 
the  best  intellectual  qualities  of  style  —  clearness, 
conciseness,  exactness. 

2.  The  preacher's  period  of  study  covers  his  life- 
time. When  he  has  been  graduated  from  the  school 
and  begins  the  work  of  his  public  life,  he  has  not 
finished  his  education ;  he  has  but  begun  it.  Scho- 
penhauer is  reported  to  have  said,  "All  that  a  man 
learns  at  the  university  is  what  he  is  to  learn  after- 
wards."   This  is  true  even  to-day,  when  the  colleges 

1  Appendix  II. 


32  FOR  PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

offer  so  many  elective  courses  that  are  so  largely 
informational  rather  than  disciplinary. 

President  Francis  Wayland  used  to  affirm  that  all 
that  he  had  accomplished  in  life  was  by  "days' 
works."  And  Jules  Payot  has  remarked,  "A  little 
is  enough  for  each  day  if  each  day  accomplishes 
that  little."  The  busy  preacher  is  ever  to  remember 
that  to-morrow  is  another  day.  The  patience  of  the 
men  who  write  histories  and  novels  and  poetry,  like 
Gibbon,  Thackeray,  Dickens,  Tennyson,  and  Brown- 
ing, may  well  be  commended  to  the  Christian 
preacher.  These  men  made  constant  and  wide  use 
of  the  passing  days  and  hours.  They  were  satisfied 
to  do  a  little  at  a  time.  The  preacher  can,  if  he  will. 
All  the  time  there  is  is  his.  And  he  is  free  to  com- 
mand his  time  as  few  men  are.  He  is  left  largely 
to  himself  as  to  the  use  he  shall  make  of  it.  Dean 
Church,  himself  a  noble  example  of  his  precept,  says : 
"A  clergyman  ought  to  be  a  student  —  a  reader  and 
a  thinker  —  to  the  very  end.  'I  am  still  learning,' 
said  the  greatest  of  artists  —  Michelangelo  —  in 
his  old  age  of  fame.  Nor  if  there  is  the  will,  the 
habit  of  self-command,  is  that  incompatible  with  a 
very  busy  ministry.  At  least  his  own  great  subject 
he  should  seek  to  know  in  the  way  that  other  things 
are  known  now  by  those  who  care  for  them." 

3.  The  most  effective  preachers  have  been  studious 
men.    They  may  not  have  been  scholars  in  the 


THE   ENRICHING   OF   THE   MENTAL   LIFE    33 

technical,  scientific  sense,  but  they  have  diligently 
employed  their  thinking  and  acquiring  power. 
Look  at  a  partial  list  of  them.  It  is  full  of  encourage- 
ment and  inspiration  to  every  genuine  preacher 
of  the  Gospel.  Paul,  Augustine,  Chrysostom,  the 
two  Gregories,  Basil,  Bernard,  the  seventeenth 
century  preachers  in  the  established  Church  of 
England  and  among  the  Nonconformists  —  South, 
Barrow,  Howe,  Owen  —  Wesley,  Edwards,  Davies, 
Liddon,  Farrar,  Parker,  Dale,  Robertson,  MacLaren, 
Spurgeon,  Evans,  Finney,  Moody,  Beecher,  Bushnell, 
Brooks,  Lorimer.  Indeed  nearly  all  the  leading 
present-day  preachers  in  the  large  cities  are  studi- 
ous men. 

4.  Other  things  being  equal,  the  churches  require 
and  relish  the  preaching  of  men  of  rich  mental 
vitality. 

It  sometimes  seems  on  the  surface  not  to  be  so, 
that  the  charlatan  and  the  mountebank  are  most 
in  demand.  But  in  reality  it  is  not  true,  if  other 
things  are  equal.  An  officer  of  one  of  the  largest 
popular  churches  in  America  on  being  asked,  "What 
kind  of  preacher  do  your  people  most  like  to  hear?'' 
answered,  "The  man  who  gives  us  the  most  things 
to  attend  to."  And  as  a  matter  of  fact  many,  if 
not  most,  of  the  churches  that  have  the  largest 
congregations  are  served  by  the  ablest  preachers. 
Numerous  examples  could  be  given.     "It  is  time 


34  FOR  PtlLPlf**  AND   PLATFORM 

the  illusion  were  dispelled  that  superior  mental 
endowments  and  extensive  learning  unfit  a  wise 
man  to  be,  not  only  a  useful,  but  the  most  useful 
teacher  of  simple  folk."  —  Duryea. 

II.  Methods  of  Enriching  the  Mental  Life 

Perhaps  the  object  can  best  be  served  here  by 
casting  the  points  in  the  form  of  direct,  brief  maxims : 

1.  Begin  systematic  study  at  once  and  with  a 
determination  to  keep  it  up  to  the  end. 

Emerson  wrote  in  his  "Journal"  at  the  age  of 
twenty-seven:  "It  is  my  purpose  to  methodize 
my  days.  I  wish  not  to  be  straight-laced  in  my 
own  rules,  but  to  wear  them  easily  and  to  make 
wisdom  master  of  them.  It  is  a  resolving  world, 
but  God  grant  me  persistency  enough,  so  soon  as  I 
leave  Brookline,  and  come  to  my  books,  to  do  as  I 
intend."  No  man  can  prescribe  a  method  of  study 
for  another.  Each  man  must  work  in  his  own 
harness.  But  work  he  must,  if  he  is  to  make  full 
proof  of  his  ministry.  It  has  been  remarked  of 
Henry  Ward  Beecher  that  nobody  ever  knew  when 
he  studied.  But  study  he  did,  as  his  ministry  so 
abundantly  testified.  He  is  reported  to  have  said, 
"Study  and  patient  labor  are  indispensable  even  to 
genius."  "A  preacher  should  plan  his  study  hours, 
and  hedge  them  in  with  a  wall  of  fire."  —  Jefferson. 
Broadly  speaking,  if  a  preacher  can  secure  the  fore- 


THE   ENRICHING   OF   THE   MENTAL   LIFE    35 

noon  for  study,  say  from  eight  till  one,  he  can  live. 
How  these  hours  are  to  be  divided  each  one  must 
judge  for  himself  according  to  his  needs.  If  from 
eight  till  ten,  on  the  part  of  a  young  preacher,  should 
be  devoted  to  general  study,  and  from  ten  till  one 
to  work  on  the  sermon,  he  in  the  course  of  a  year 
could  accomplish  much.  After  experience  in  study 
and  composition  has  been  attained,  a  much  shorter 
period  of  the  forenoon  might  be  given  to  work  on  the 
sermon,  which  is  probably  the  case  with  numerous 
ministers.  Many  men,  who  are  pastors  of  large 
and  exacting  churches,  have  been  able  to  secure 
from  three  to  five  hours  a  day  for  first-rate  study. 
What  could  be  more  encouraging  to  the  preacher 
than  what  John  Masefield  says  of  Shakespeare,  the 
myriad-minded :  "  Shakespeare,  like  other  poets, 
grew  by  continual,  very  diflBcult,  mental  labor,  by 
the  deliberate  and  prolonged  exercise  of  every 
mental  weapon,  and  by  the  resolve  to  do  not  'the 
nearest  thing,'  precious  to  human  sheep,  but  the 
difiBicult,  new,  and  noble  thing,  glimmering  beyond 
his  mind,  and  brought  to  glow  there  by  toil." 

2.  Choose  only  the  first  rate  in  every  department 
of  study. 

What  would  be  first  rate  for  one  man  might  be  sec- 
ond rate  for  another.  Each  must  decide  for  himself 
according  to  his  native  ability,  his  educational  advan- 
tages, and  his  experience  as  a  student  since  entering 


36      FOR  PULPIT  AND  PLATFORM 

the  ministry.  A  great  author,  on  reading  Homer, 
said,  "  I  light  my  candle  at  the  sun/^  And  Ruskin  has 
asked:  "Do  you  not  know  if  you  read  this  book 
you  cannot  read  that?''  Joubert  said :  "Plato  puts 
light  into  one's  eyes,  and  fills  us  with  a  clearness  by 
which  all  objects  afterwards  become  illuminated. 
Somehow  or  other  the  habit  of  reading  him  augments 
in  us  the  capacity  for  discerning  and  entertaining 
whatever  fine  truths  may  afterwards  present  them- 
selves. Like  mountain  air  it  sharpens  our  organs, 
and  gives  us  an  appetite  for  wholesome  food." 

3.  Cultivate  the  ability  of  intense  and  prolonged 
application. 

Preachers,  like  all  other  intellectual  toilers, 
greatly  vary  in  this  respect.  Some  can  prosecute 
hard  study  without  harm  much  longer  than  others. 
The  only  caution  needed  is  that  a  preacher  shall  not 
unduly  strain  his  mind,  or  weary  his  body,  at  any 
given  stage  of  his  intellectual  development.  He 
should  do  his  best ;  no  more,  no  less. 

4.  Have  on  hand  a  special  line,  or  lines  of  study. 
Dr.   Broadus   advises  that,   "A  young  minister 

should  give  at  least  one-third  of  his  time  to  studies 
not  looking  to  next  Sunday,  but  to  future  years." 

5.  Study  for  power  and  acquisition. 
DeQuincey    speaks    of    Power    Literature    and 

Knowledge  Literature.  The  growing  preacher  needs 
to  master  both  that  he  may  constantly  cultivate  his 


THE   ENRICHING   OF   THE   MENTAL  LIFE    37 

thinking  power  and  constantly  enrich  his  mind  with 
abundant  and  choice  material  for  discourse.  The 
final  and  the  finest  fruit  of  such  study  is  the  develop- 
ment of  his  own  critical  judgment  and  inventive 
energy.  "Books  are  the  best  of  things,  well  used; 
abused,  among  the  worst.  They  are  for  nothing  but 
to  inspire.  I  had  better  never  see  a  book  than  to 
be  warped  by  its  attraction  clean  out  of  my  own 
orbit,  and  made  a  satellite  instead  of  a  system.'* 
—  Emerson.  "All  the  books  and  reading  in  the 
world  are  valuable  only  as  they  are  helps  to  the 
creative  powers'  exercise."  —  M.  Arnold. 

Coleridge's  "Aids  to  Reflection"  and  Bacon's 
"Essays"  are  admirable  in  connection  with  this 
point. 

6.  Thoroughly  master  and  preserve  the  subject 
in  hand. 

One  man  will  adopt  one  method  of  doing  this, 
and  another  man  another  method.  Let  every  man 
use  the  method  that  best  harmonizes  with  the  grain 
of  his  make. 

7.  In  studying  an  author  inquire,  if  possible,  into 
the  facts  of  his  personal  history. 

It  is  easy  for  an  author's  mind  to  become  warped 
and  his  judgment  clouded  through  disappointing 
experiences  in  life,  which  may  thoroughly  vitiate 
his  mind  for  authorship.  It  is  of  prime  importance 
that  the  preacher  know  this,  if  he  wishes  to  guard 


38  FOR  PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

himself  against  adopting  error  as  truth.  Henry 
Rogers  has  expressed  a  valuable  caution  concerning 
this:  "Reason,  that  vaunted  guide  of  life,  nowhere 
exists  as  a  pure  and  colorless  light,  but  is  perpetually- 
tin  ctured  by  the  medium  through  which  it  passes; 
it  flows  in  upon  us  through  painted  windows.  And 
thus  it  is  that  perhaps  scarcely  once  in  ten  thousand 
times,  probably  never,  does  man  deliver  a  judgment 
on  evidence  simply  and  absolutely  judicial." 

8.   Be  chary  of  fragments  of  time. 

Virgil  to  Dante :  "Think  that  this  day  will  never 
dawn  again."  Burnap:  "The  great  secret  of  the 
world's  welfare  is  the  economy  of  time." 

Edward  Howard  Griggs:  "It  is  only  while  the 
water  on  the  river  of  time  flows  over  the  mill  wheel 
of  to-day's  life  that  we  can  utilize  it."  See  his  little 
book  on  "The  Use  of  the  Margin."  It  is  full  of 
valuable  suggestions  to  a  hard-worked  minister. 
Darwin's  son  says  that  "One  of  his  father's  char- 
acteristic traits  was  his  respect  for  time.  He  never 
for  a  moment  forgot  how  valuable  a  thing  it  was. 
He  economized  every  minute.  He  never  lost  even 
a  few  moments  which  he  had  on  his  hands  by  imagin- 
ing that  it  was  hardly  worth  while  to  begin  work." 
John  Clifford  :  "The  key  to  my  day  is  the  utilization 
of  the  odd  moments.  I  attach  as  much  importance 
to  the  right  use  of  these  as  to  the  work  of  the  defi- 
nitely filled  hours.    I  try  never  to  lose  a  minute, 


THE   ENRICHING   OF   THE   MENTAL   LIFE    39 

but  seize  this  one  to  jot  down  a  thought,  that  to 
dip  into  a  book,  another  to  get  a  bit  of  rest.''  Ten- 
nyson tells  of  the  origin  of  his  exquisite  poem,  **  The 
Lady  Godiva "  :  "I  waited  for  the  train  at  Coventry. 
I  hung  with  grooms  and  porters  on  the  bridge  to 
watch  the  three  tall  spires ;  and  there  I  shaped  the 
city's  ancient  legend  into  this."  While  the  grooms 
and  porters  were  merely  lounging  lumps  of  flesh, 
the  poet's  brain  was  at  work  to  make  use  of  the 
passing  moments.  Rowland  Hazard's  "The  Free- 
dom of  the  Mind  in  Willing"  is  said  to  have  been 
written  on  bits  of  envelopes  while  he  was  traveling 
on  railway  trains  in  the  prosecution  of  his  business. 
Alexander  MacLaren :  "  Grasp  the  flying  opportu- 
nity by  the  forelock.     He  is  bald  behind." 

9.   Carefully  preserve  spontaneous  thoughts. 

Emerson:  "Look  sharply  after  your  thoughts. 
They  come  unlooked  for,  like  a  new  bird  seen  on 
your  trees,  and  if  you  turn  to  your  usual  task,  dis- 
appear; and  you  shall  never  find  that  perception 
again."  The  highest  thoughts  sometimes  come 
unheralded  to  the  mind,  as  Goethe  said  his  often  did, 
"like  free  children  of  God  crying  *Here  we  are.'" 
"Good  thoughts  are  like  birds  which,  when  you 
get  them,  must  be  caged,  or  they  certainly  will  fly 
away." 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  STUDY  OF  MEN 

I.  The  Preacher's  Need  of  the  Study  of  Men 

The  study  of  men  is  the  counterpart  of  the  study 
of  psychology.  The  latter  furnishes  a  theoretical, 
an  abstract,  the  former  a  concrete,  practical  knowl- 
edge of  human  nature.  The  minister  needs  to 
know  men  in  those  deep  undercurrents  of  their  being 
which  all  men  have  in  common.  He  also  needs  to 
know  individual  men  in  their  peculiarities  and 
experiences.  Every  man  differs  from  every  other 
man.  The  preacher  should  strive  to  know  that 
difference.  This  he  can  do  only  by  personal  contact 
with  men  of  various  types  of  character,  of  different 
occupations  and  circumstances  in  life.  This  knowl- 
edge is,  at  the  same  time,  the  most  useful  and  the 
most  diflBcult  of  acquisitions. 

Probably  a  larger  number  of  failures  in  the  Chris- 
tian ministry  is  to  be  traced  to  this  one  cause, — 
namely,  the  minister's  practical  ignorance  of  human 
nature,  and  so  his  inability  successfully  to  deal  with 
men,  —  than  to  all  other  causes  combined.  What- 
ever else  he  is  ignorant  of,  these  two  things  he  must 
know  —  the  Bible  and  men. 

40 


THE   STUDY   OF  MEN  41 

It  is  true  of  the  sacred  orator  as  Cicero  said  it  was 
of  the  secular  orator:  "All  the  movements  —  that 
is,  the  emotions,  affections,  passions  of  the  mind, 
which  nature  has  bestowed  upon  man,  also  practical 
life  and  manners  —  must  be  mastered  by  him.'* 
It  is  easier,  perhaps,  than  might  at  first  appear,  for 
a  student  for  the  ministry,  and  indeed  for  a  settled 
pastor,  to  be  more  interested  in  subjects  than  in  men. 

11.  The  Scope  of  the  Preacher's  Study  of  Men 
1.    TheStvdy  of  Himself^ 

Coleridge  has  said:  "Alas!  the  largest  part  of 
mankind  are  nowhere  greater  strangers  than  at 
home." 

The  preacher  should  study  himself  in  the  out- 
standing characteristics  of  his  mind,  heart,  disposi- 
tion, his  fundamental  native  outfit  as  a  communi- 
cator of  truth.  He  should  know  his  special  ability, 
his  limitations  and  defects,  in  the  sum  of  those 
forces  that  make  him  what  he  is.  "A  prime  condi- 
tion of  steady  growth  into  one's  highest  life  is 
knowledge  of  one's  self  —  rational  taking  account 
of  one's  own  temperament  and  tendencies  and 
powers.  One  can  hardly  handle  himself  to  best 
advantage  if  he  does  not  thoroughly  understand 
himself,  especially  his  prevailing  temperament." 
—  Henry  Churchill  King. 

^  Appendix  III. 


42  FOR   PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

The  preacher  should  put  to  hunself  and  answer 
such  questions  as  these  : 

(a)  What  is  the  prevailing  cast  of  my  mind  ?  Is 
it  philosophical,  logical,  poetical,  practical  ? 

(6)  Am  I  deficient  in  oratorical  imagination  ? 

(c)  Is  my  emotional  nature  well  developed  ? 

{d)  Am  I  inclined  to  take  a  bright  or  a  dark  view 
of  things  ? 

(e)  Have  I  a  fair  degree  of  practical  judgment? 

(/)   Is  my  personality  reasonably  influential  ? 

(g)  Am  I  a  reasonably  effective  public  speaker? 

(h)  Have  I  a  fair  degree  of  organizing  and  admin- 
istrative ability  ? 

This  self-examination  the  preacher  should  make 
not  only  that  he  may  seek  to  supply  his  defects  and 
use  to  greatest  advantage  his  particular  gifts,  but 
also  that  he  may  be  quickened  into  a  sympathy 
with,  a  knowledge  of,  and  labor  for,  his  fellow 
men. 

This  sort  of  self-study  is  not  attended  with  the 
dangers  that  accompany  a  microscopic  introspection 
in  order  to  discover  whether  or  not  one  is  a  Christian. 
It  is  a  purely  vocational  study  for  the  purpose  of 
increasing  a  preacher's  usefulness  as  a  communicator 
of  truth.  Any  man  in  order  to  the  best  success  in 
his  occupation  must  know  the  instrument  with 
which  he  works.    The  preacher  is  his  own  instru- 


THE   STUDY   OF   MEN  43 

ment,  a  kind  of  tool,  with  which  he  labors  for  the 
ends  of  the  kingdom.  To  know  himseK  in  his  apti- 
tude for  his  calling  is  safe  and  essential.  Thus  is 
he  saved  from  developing  undue  self-consciousness 
either  in  the  direction  of  self-conceit  or  of  self- 
depreciation. 

Such  self-knowledge  yields  adaptation  in  reaching 
others.  Edward  Payson,  one  of  the  most  successful 
pastors  this  country  ever  had,  was  a  profound 
student  of  himself.  His  piety,  which  has  not  been 
surpassed,  hardly  equaled  by  any  other  Ameri- 
can preacher,  was  not  of  itself  sufficient  for 
ministerial  success.  And  he  was  wise  enough  to 
see  it,  and  to  give  himself  with  utmost  effort  to 
know  himself  in  order  to  the  knowing  of  others. 
His  profound  self-knowledge  gave  him  vast  power 
and  adroitness  in  scanning  the  character  of  his 
fellow  men.  Individual  hearers  were  wont  to 
inquire  concerning  Dr.  Chalmers'  searching  preach- 
ing: "How  did  the  preacher  know  my  particular 
case  so  well?  Who  told  him  all  about  me?"  No- 
body had  told  him  a  word.  Dr.  Chalmers  knew 
himself  and  so  he  knew  the  other  man.  He  preached 
to  himself  and  so  preached  effectively  to  others. 
"The  most  penetrating  preaching  is  that  of  men 
who  have  looked  into  their  own  hearts  to  discover  the 
common  needs  of  all  their  brethren/'  —  Henrt 
Clay  Trumbull. 


44  FOR  PULPIT  AND  PLATFORM 

2.    The  Preacher^s  Study  of  Other  Men  ^ 

Norman  McLeod,  writing  to  his  brother  Donald 
in  Paris,  exclaimed  "Men,  men,  meet  men." 
This  study  should  include : 

(1)  All  sorts  of  effective  public  speakers  — 
preachers,  politicians,  speakers  on  educational, 
social,  ethical,  philanthropic,  and  other  subjects. 
Let  him  ask  himself:  "What  constitutes  their 
effectiveness  with  their  hearers?"  "What  in  the 
men  themselves,  and  what  in  their  speaking  reaches 
and  influences  me  ?  "  "  What  faults  do  they  manifest 
that  I  should  seek  to  avoid?"  "In  what  respects, 
if  any,  should  I  take  them  as  models  in  the  presenta- 
tion of  truth?"  In  listening  to  impressive,  per- 
suasive preachers  he  should  inquire:  "Does  my 
preaching  contain  these  persuasive  qualities?"  By 
thus  putting  himself  in  the  place  of  a  hearer  he  is 
likely  to  impart  to  his  own  preaching  more  of  reality 
and  power.  And  there  is  need  of  this.  For  is  not 
many  a  preacher  compelled  to  confess  at  times 
that  such  a  presentation  of  truth  as  his,  if  he  listened 
to  it,  would  not  move  him  ? 

(2)  The  members  of  his  church,  congregation,  and 
Sunday  School.  These  furnish  the  preacher  his 
most  immediate,  most  obligatory,  and  most  promis- 
ing opportunity  to  gain  a  working  knowledge  of 

1  Appendix  IV. 


THE   STUDY   OF  MEN  45 

human  nature  for  the  ends  of  the  kingdom.  His 
study  of  them  should  include  such  aspects  as  the 
following:  Their  ages,  temperaments,  occupations, 
opportunities,  pleasures,  sorrows,  temptations, 
homes  and  home  life,  general  circumstances,  the 
influences  to  which  they  are  especially  subject, 
their  attitude  toward  Christ,  toward  men  and  youth 
from  the  viewpoint  of  organizing  them  for  Christian 
work,  individual  and  social. 

Lyman  Abbott  in  an  article  in  the  Outlook  on 
"What  Do  You  Know?''  has  this  to  say:  "It  is 
the  question  that  confronts  the  preacher  when  he 
stands  in  the  pulpit,  not.  How  much  do  you  know  of 
formal  theology,  or  of  the  history  of  the  church? 
but.  What  do  you  know  of  the  lives  of  these  people 
in  front  of  you  ?  How  much  do  you  know  of  their 
temptations,  of  their  burdens,  of  their  aspirations? 
Do  you  know  how  to  inspire,  console,  and  help 
them?" 

(3)  The  community:  Is  it  riu-al,  village,  town, 
city?  Is  it  prevailingly  residential,  commercial, 
manufacturing?  What  kinds  of  business  are  the 
most  prominent  and  give  character  to  the  place? 
In  this  time  the  Christian  preacher  should  make  a 
specialty  of  the  study  of  men  in  their  industrial 
relations  in  store,  factory,  etc. ;  the  working  people 
wherever  they  gather  for  labor,  that  he  may  become 
acquainted  with  their  environment,  learn  how  to 


46  FOR  PULPIT  AND  PLATFORM 

approach  them,  and  how  to  present  to  them  the 
truth  most  mtelligently  and  persuasively,  and  also 
that  he  may  attain  a  concrete,  practical  understand- 
ing of  the  labor  question  and  so  become  equipped 
for  the  exercise  of  his  social  ministry  in  this  aspect 
of  it ;  the  home  life  of  the  wage  earners,  its  character 
and  needs  in  their  bearing  upon  the  discharge  of  his 
ministry;  the  influence  of  industry  upon  those 
engaged  in  it  and  the  viewpoints  of  employer  and 
employed  concerning  it.  He  should  mingle  freely 
with  all  classes  of  people,  and,  so  far  as  feasible, 
meet  men  at  their  daily  toil,  tneet  human  nature 
in  its  "shirt  sleeves,''  as  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes 
phrased  it.  Whatever  else  the  modern  preacher, 
pressed  on  every  hand  for  variety  of  service  as  he  is, 
is  compelled  to  neglect,  here  is  an  opportunity,  a 
necessity,  that  he  must  heed  if  he  is  to  fulfill  his 
function  with  the  largest  success  and  prove  himself 
to  be  in  this  modern  day  a  "good  minister  of  Jesus 
Christ,"  "a  workman  not  made  ashamed,  rightly 
dividing  the  word  of  truth." 

III.  Encouraging  Examples  of  the  Study  op 

Men 

Josiah  Strong,  in  "Our  Country,"  quotes  the 
confession  of  a  noted  lobbyist  concerning  the 
methods  employed  at  Albany  in  behalf  of  the  liquor 
interests :   "After  the  election  and  before  the  Legis- 


THE   STUDY   OF  MEN  47 

lature  convened  our  correspondents  throughout  the 
State  gave  us  special  and  truthful  descriptions  of 
every  one  of  the  opposition  members,  their  mode 
of  life,  their  habits,  their  eccentricities,  and  their 
religious  views;  whether  they  were  approachable; 
with  a  thorough  analysis  of  their  characters  in  every 
way,  so  that  we  might  understand  our  subjects  in 
advance/'  All  this  in  the  service  of  evil;  for  the 
destruction  of  men.  Shall  not  the  minister  of  the 
Gospel  be  as  wise  in  the  service  of  Christ  for  the 
salvation  of  men?  Or  shall  the  children  of  this 
world  be  wiser  in  their  generation  than  the  children 
of  light? 

Dr.  Kirk  visited  the  wharves  of  Boston:  "He 
learned  what  men  were  doing.  He  looked  upon 
every  weather-beaten  sailor  as  an  undubbed  pro- 
fessor of  geography,  from  whom  he  might  receive 
information."  He  talked  with  farmers  and  gar- 
deners about  the  cultivation  of  the  soil. 

Charles  Kingsley :  "  I  try  to  catch  men  by  their 
leading  ideas,  and  so  draw  them  off  insensibly  to  my 
leading  idea.  With  the  farmer  he  discussed  the 
rotation  of  crops,  and  with  the  laborer  the  science 
of  hedging  and  ditching.  And  yet  while  he  seemed 
to  ask  for  information,  he  unconsciously  gave  more 
than  he  received." 

Norman  McLeod :  "  He  never  came  into  my 
shop,"  said  a  blacksmith  of  him,  "without  talking 


48  FOR  PULPIT  AND  PLATFORM 

with  me  as  though  he  had  been  a  blacksmith  all  his 
life.  But  he  never  went  away  without  leaving 
Christ  in  my  heart/' 

Henry  Ward  Beecher:  "When  I  see  a  man  I 
instinctively  divide  him  up,  and  ask  myself,  How 
much  has  he  of  the  animal,  how  much  of  the  spiritual, 
and  how  much  of  the  intellectual  ?  And  what  is  his 
intellect,  perceptive  or  reflective?  Is  he  ideal,  or 
apathetic,  or  literal?  And  I  instinctively  adapt 
myself  to  him.  There  is  not  a  deck  hand  on  the 
ferryboats  nor  a  man  at  Fulton  Ferry  whom  I 
do  not  know  and  who  has  not  helped  me." 

IV.  Fruits  of  the  Study  of  Men 

1.  It  warms  the  preacher's  interest  in  men  and 
makes  him  a  genuine  man  among  men.  It  human- 1 
izes  him.  I 

2.  It  makes  him  easily  approachable  to  the  men 
he  wishes  to  interest  and  influence. 

3.  It  gives  him  practical  wisdom  in  dealing  with 
the  members  and  the  affairs  of  his  church.  "It  is 
not  courage,  but  lack  of  sense  which  usually  gets 
preachers  into  trouble."  —  Jefferson. 

4.  It  gives  him  power  of  adaptation  to  all  classes 
of  men. 

5.  It  aids  him  as  a  public  speaker. 
Particularly  valuable  to  him  in  this  regard  is  his 

hearing  workingmen  talk.    He  thus  gains  a  mastery 


THE   STUDY   OF  MEN  49 

of  the  vernacular  —  a  rugged,  homely,  direct, 
pointed  way  of  putting  things.  It  has  been  said  of 
Whitefield  and  Wesley  that  they  were  wont  to  listen 
to  women  in  their  conversation  in  the  Billings- 
gate market,  and  learned  from  them  much  of  their 
effectiveness  in  the  popular  presentation  of  truth. 
Emerson  has  said :  "The  orator  must  command  the 
whole  scale  of  the  language  from  the  most  eloquent 
to  the  most  low.  The  street  must  be  one  of  his 
schools.  Ought  not  the  scholar  to  be  able  to 
convey  his  meaning  in  terms  as  short  and  strong 
as  the  porter  or  the  truckman  uses  to  convey  his?" 


CHAPTER   IV 
THE  STRUCTURE  OF  DISCOURSE 

The  Text 

L    Why  Public  Religious  Discourse  Is  Based 
UPON  Scripture  Texts 

The  use  of  the  text  tends 

1.  To  furnish  a  specific  truth  for  the  sermon. 
It  contains  the  preacher's  message. 

2.  To  promote  thoughtfulness  in  preaching. 

If  the  Bible  is  in  any  distinct  sense  the  Book 
of  God,  it  contains  in  a  peculiar  way  the 
thoughts  of  God,  and  God's  thoughts  are 
higher  and  richer  than  man's  thoughts. 
Thus  they  tend  to  stimulate  the  preacher's 
inventive  energj.  He  thinks  God's  thoughts 
after  Him. 

Brastow :  "No  professional  man  does  so  much, 
so  varied,  and  so  difficult  intellectual  work 
as  the  modern  preacher.  It  would  be  utterly 
impossible  for  him  without  the  use  of  sug- 
gestive texts  to  produce  the  same  amount 
and  quality  of  material  that  is  now  produced 
every  week.  No  man  but  a  rhetorical  genius 
60 


THE   STRUCTURE   OF  DISCOURSE  51 

could  do  it.  No  man  in  our  day,  especially, 
can  spin  out  of  his  own  personal  independent 
inner  resources  two  religious  orations  or 
disquisitions  or  addresses  every  week  and 
expect  to  live  or  to  be  effective  for  any 
considerable  length  of  time." 

To  direct  the  course  of  thought  in  the  sermon 
and  so  to  further  its  unity  and  progress. 

To  secure  variety  in  preaching. 

This  follows  from  2. 

To  impart  a  certain  divine  authority  to  preach- 
ing. 

This  is  based  upon  2. 

To  aid  the  memory  and  attention  of  the  hearer. 

This  is  particularly  the  case  if  the  text  is  aptly 
chosen  and  is  skillfully  woven  into  the  dis- 
course as  in  textual  and  expository  preaching. 

Robertson  and  McLaren  are  good  examples 
of  this  point. 

To  promote  regard  for  the  Bible  in  the  popular 
mind. 

To  promote  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  among 
the  people. 

7  and  8  center  in  the  influence  of  the  example 
of  the  preacher.  If  he,  an  educated  man  and 
a  special  student  of  the  Bible,  thrusts  it  into 
prominence  in  public  discourse,  his  hearers 
will  natm-ally  think  that  it  is  worthy  of  their 


52  FOR   PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

attention,  and  if  his  preaching  is  adequately 
BibUcal,  definite  lines  of  Scripture  study  will 
be  constantly  suggested  to  them. 
9.  To    impart    concreteness    and    vividness    of 
expression  to  preaching. 
These  qualities  of  style  uniquely  mark  the 
Bible,  and  they  make  their  appeal  to  the  , 
imagination    of    the    preacher.     The    book 
that  furnishes  him  his  message  is  also  his 
best  teacher  in  the  finest  qualities  of  expres- 
sion.    How   fortunate    is   the   preacher    in 
this  respect  as  compared  with  the  lawyer 
and  the  doctor  in  relation  to  their  textbooks. 

II.  What   Sorts   of   Bible  Texts   Should   Be 
Prominent  in  Public  Religious  Discourse 

1.  Capital  Texts  —  i.e,  those  passages  of  Scrip- 

ture that  contain  the  central  truths  of  the 

Christian  religion. 
A  study  of  the  use  of   texts  by  the  great 

preachers  is  very  valuable. 
South,    Robert    Hall,    Newman,    Robertson, 

Liddon,    McLaren,    Watkinson,    Bushnell, 

Beecher,  Brooks,  G.  A.  Gordon,  CoflBn. 

2.  Fresh  Texts. 

(1)  They  stimulate  originality  in  the  preacher. 

(2)  Awaken  the  interest  in  hearers  at  the  outset 

of  discourse. 


THE  STRUCTURE   OF  DISCOURSE  53 

(3)  Frequently  afford  satisfaction  and  pleasure 
to  hearers  in  the  unexpectedness  of  the 
transition  from  text  to  subject. 

Bushnell :  John  20 :  8.  "Then  entered  in 
therefore  the  other  disciple." 

Theme :  Unconscious  Influence. 

3.  Splendid  texts. 

That  is,  texts  of  profound  emotion,  of  highly 
wrought  imagery,  and  of  fine  poetic  beauty, 
if  the  preacher  can  use  them  and  not  have 
too  marked  contrast  between  them  and  the 
discourse. 

The  splendid  text  stimulates  the  preacher's 
imagination,  esthetic  sense,  elegance  of 
expression,  and  highest  effort  in  discourse. 

4.  Obscure  Texts. 

There  are  numerous  texts  in  the  Bible  that  are 
difficult  to  understand  and  of  the  meaning 
of  which  the  people  are  ignorant.  The 
preacher  renders  his  hearers- a  distinct  service 
by  explaining  to  them  the  significance  of 
such  passages. 

Three  conditions  should  obtain  in  the  use  of 
obscure  texts. 

a.  If  the  preacher  understands  their  meaning. 

h.  If  it  is  reasonably  certain  that  he  can  make 
them  clear  to  the  hearers. 

c.  If  the  passages  are  important  enough  to 
warrant  the  necessary  explanation. 


54  FOR  PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

5.   Shall  accommodated  texts  be  used  ? 

An  accommodated  text  is  one  between  which 
and  the  theme  there  is  similarity  of  principle 
in  dissimilar  spheres  of  truth  or  of  action. 
Or,  as  Phelps  defines  it,  "The  principle  in  the 
text  resembles  the  principle  of  the  subject 
but  is  radically  distinct  from  it." 
It  is  to  be  observed  that  accommodation  is  not 
allegorizing  as  practiced  by  Origen  and 
Augustine,  who  made  allegory  an  inherent 
content  of  Scripture. 

The  use  of  the  accommodated  text  is  based 
upon  the  recognized  analogy  between  the 
material  and  the  spiritual  sphere  so  promi- 
nent in  the  Bible  itself.     II.  Corinthians, 
4:6:    "  Seeing  it  is  God  that  said.  Light 
shall  shine  out  of  darkness,  who  shined  in 
our  hearts,  to  give  the  light  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of 
Jesus  Christ.'' 
The  God  of  Creation  is  the  Gracious  God. 
The  use  of  the  accommodated  text  is  warranted 
only  if 

a.  the  analogy  between  the  text  and  the  subject 

is  clear  and  striking. 

b.  the  text  suggests  a  valuable  truth. 
Directness  rather  than  accommodation  in 

the  use  of  Scripture  should  be  the  rule  of  a 


THE   STRUCTURE    OF   DISCOURSE  55 

ministry,  for  in  the  strictest  sense  accom- 
modated preaching  is  not  Biblical  preach- 
ing.   The  preacher  is  under  deep  moral 
obligation    to    interpret    Scripture    with 
utmost  fairness. 
Examples : 
MacLaren :  Leviticus  26 :  10  —  "Ye  shall 
eat  old  store  and  bring  forth  the  old 
because  of  the  new." 
Subject :  —  The    Fullness    of    the    Divine 
Gifts.     The  text  is  in  the  material  sphere. 
He  employs  it  in  the  spiritual  sphere. 
Bushnell:    Luke  2:7  —  "There  was  no 
room  for  them  in  the  inn." 
Subject :  —  Christ  Waiting  to  Find  Room. 
Is  Bushnell's  sermon  on  John  20 :  8,  Un- 
conscious Influence,  a  case  of  accommoda- 
tion? 

Morrison :  Matthew  4 :  21  —  "And  going 
on  from  thence  he  saw  two  other  breth- 
ren, James  the  son  of  Zebedee,  and  John 
his  brother,  in  the  boat  with  Zebedee, 
their  father,  mending  their  nets." 
Subject :  —  The  Net  Mender. 
Used  in  a  spiritual  sense. 

Shannon :  Luke  5:4  —  "  Put  out  into  the 
deep." 
Subject :  The  Spiritual  Deeps.  ] 


56  FOR   PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

It  is  not  too  much  to  aflBrm  that  the  careful  selec- 
tion of  Scripture  texts,  the  exact  exegetical  study 
of  them,  and  imaginative  and  emotional  brooding 
over  them,  until  their  most  vital  and  quickening 
significance  is  disclosed  to  the  preacher,  is  in  a 
distinct  sense  fundamental  in  Christian  preaching. 
The  men  in  the  modern  pulpit  who  thus  relate  them- 
selves and  their  messages  to  the  Bible  are  the  men 
who  have  the  widest  hearing,  make  the  profoundest 
impression,  and  accomplish  the  largest  usefulness. 
Every  young  preacher,  especially,  should  take  this 
to  heart.  The  Scriptures,  as  a  source  of  preaching 
material,  are  still  abiding  and  vital. 

The  Introdicction 
I.  The  Idea  of  the  Introduction 
It  is  the  function  of  the  Introduction,  in  preaching, 
gradually  to  approach  the  subject  for  one  or  more  of 
the  following  purposes :  to  prepare  the  hearers  to 
understand  it;  to  awaken  their  interest  in  it;  to 
gain  their  good  will  in  behalf  of  the  preacher  and 
of  the  discourse. 

The  function  of  the  Introduction  in  public  religious 
discourse  combines  the  three  qualities  of  the  exor- 
dium as  set  forth  respectively  by  the  three  classic 
writers  on  the  topic. 

Aristotle  :   "The  most  necessary  business  of  the 
exordium,  and  this  is  peculiar  to  it,  is  to  throw 


THE   STRUCTURE    OF   DISCOURSE  57 

some  light  on  the  end  for  the  sake  of  which  the 

speech  is  made." 
Quintilian  :  "The  beginning  of  a  speech  has  no 

other  design  than  to  prepare  the  mind  of  the 

hearer  to  Hsten  attentively  to  the  other  parts 

of  the  discourse." 
Cicero :    "  The  first  judgment  and,  as  it  were, 

prejudice,  in  favor  of  a  speech,  arises  from 

its  setting  out,  which  ought  instantly  to  soothe 

and  entice  the  hearer." 

In  current  pastoral  preaching  the  chief  function  of 
the  introduction  is  to  prepare  the  hearers  to  under- 
stand the  subject  or  to  arouse  their  interest  in  it, 
or  both,  and  it  is  needed  for  the  following  reasons : 

1.  The  frequency  of  preaching. 

2.  The  influence  of  the  world  and  of  daily  occupa- 

tion upon  the  hearers  during  the  week,  which 
is  likely  to  be  hostile  to  interest  in  a  sacred 
subject. 

3.  The  hearers  have  no  special  knowledge  of,  or 

interest  in,  the  subject. 

4.  The  native  inertia  of  the  human  mind. 

The  function  of  the  introduction  in  securing  the 
good  will  of  hearers  is  employed  with  audiences 
composed  of  non-churchgoing  people,  who  are  either 
indifferent  or  opposed  to  religion,  out-of-door  serv- 


58  FOR  PULPIT  AND  PLATFORM 

ices,  and  in  the  treatment  in  pastoral  preaching  of 
the  severer  truths  of  the  Christian  religion  that 
particularly  search  the  conscience. 

Psychologically,  the  introduction  differs  widely 
from  the  conclusion.  The  one  addresses  particularly 
the  intellect  and  the  imagination  and  lightly  the 
sensibility  of  the  hearer.  The  other,  the  emotions 
and  the  will.  The  one  seeks  to  gain  a  hearing,  the 
other  calls  for  action.  The  one  is  the  entering  of 
the  wedge,  the  other  is  driving  it  home. 

II.  Qualities  of  the  Introduction 

1,  It  should  be  pertinent,  i.e.  it  should  contain  no 

irrelevant  material  or  suggest  irrelevant 
thoughts  in  the  hearers.  It  should  not  lack 
suggestiveness,  but  its  suggestiveness  should 
always  be  germane  to  the  topic  in  hand. 
It  should  proceed  toward  the  subject  with 
the  straightness  and  the  certainty  of  a  well- 
aimed  arrow  to  its  mark. 

2.  It  should  in  no  wise  suggest  the  material  that  is  to 

appear  in  the  body  of  the  discourse,  nor  should 
it  contain  material  that  intrinsically  belongs 
to  the  development  of  the  leading  truth  of  the 
sermon.  An  introduction  may  be  too  good. 
It  should  merely  prepare  the  way  for  that 
which  is  to  come.  It  calls  attention  to  the 
approaching  feast,  but  does  not  serve  it.     It 


THE   STRUCTURE   OF  DISCOURSE  59 

is  not  the  process  of  carving  a  statue,  but  of 
hinting  the  outhne  and  preparing  the  tools. 
It  is  an  Introduction  and  nothing  more. 
Phelps :  "The  Introduction  should  lay  claim 
to  nothing  which  will  serve  the  purpose  of 
the  sermon  more  effectively  elsewhere." 
Vinet :  "  The  exordium  should  be  drawn  from 
an  Idea  In  Immediate  contact  with  a  subject 
without  forming  a  part  of  It.     It  should  be 
an  idea  between  which  and  that  of  the  dis- 
course there  is  no  place  for  another  Idea, 
so  that  the  first  step  we  take  out  of  that 
idea  transports  us  into  our  subject." 
It  should  not  awaken  too  high  expectation  In 
respect  of  either  the  matter  or  the  style  of 
the  discourse. 
The  introduction  should  never  promise  beyond 
the  fulfillment  In  the  body  of  the  sermon. 
The  step  from  the  Introduction  to  the  other 
and  more  vital  parts  of  discourse   should 
always  be  a  step  up,  never  a  step  down. 
It   should   be   rhetorically   finished,   but   not 

elaborately  developed  or  highly  adorned. 
The  king's  courier  should  not  be  so  finely 
dressed  as  to  detract  from  the  king's  message. 
Phelps:  "A  sermon  should  never  be  re- 
membered by  the  splendor  of  its  exordium." 
It  should  be  conciliatory,  but  dignified  in  tone. 


60  FOR  PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

Paul   was  a  master  of   assemblies  here.     A 
careful  analysis  of  the  opening  of  the  fol- 
lowing addresses  is  one  of  the  most  helpful 
studies  that  a  preacher  can  prosecute.     It 
yields  the  finest  homiletic  returns.     Exam- 
ples :  Acts  13  :  16-22.    17 :  22, 23.    22 : 3,  4.i 
6.   It  should  be  adjusted  to  the  mental  state  of  the 
hearers  at  the  outset  of  discourse. 
Schott:    "The  preacher  should  remember 
that  his  own  interest  in  his  subject  was 
not  sudden  and  instantaneous,  but  rose 
by  degrees ;  therefore,  he  should  not  expect 
that  his  hearers  will  enter  into  the  consid- 
eration of  his  subject  with  the  same  zeal 
which  he  has  acquired  by  having  passed 
through  a  prolonged  study  of  it.     They 
must  observe  the  same  law  of  gradation 
which  he  followed ;  and  when  he  produces 
his  discourse  anew  before  them  it  should  be 
a  facsimile  of  the  discourse  as  he  produced 
it  originally  in  his  study.     He  should  not 
attempt  to  make  them  leap  up  at  once  to 
the  very  summit  of  his  excitement." 
7.   It  should  be  clear,  concrete,  racy  —  never  trite 
or  tedious  —  brief. 

Wilkinson :  "  Never  let  an  audience  say,  we 
tolerate  an  introduction.     It  should  be 
arrested  at  once  and  held  by  it." 
^  Appendix  V. 


THE   STRUCTURE   OF  DISCOURSE  61 

III.  Suggestions    Concerning    the    Composing 
OF  THE  Introduction 

1.  Do  not  begin  to  write  the  introduction  until 

the  subject  and  its  treatment  are  clearly  de- 
fined in  your  own  mind. 

2.  Keep  in  mind  while  writing  the  introduction  the 

specific  treatment  the  subject  is  to  receive. 

3.  Write  the  introduction  with  the  utmost  pains- 

taking. 

Vinet :  "  No  other  part  of  the  discourse  needs 
as  much  exactness  or  as  much  address  as 
the  exordium,  none  being  heard  with  more 
coolness,  and  none  more  severely  judged. 
It  is  with  exordiums  as  with  nice  and  exact 
mechanical  operations,  in  which  the  work- 
man finally  succeeds,  but  not  without 
having  broken  more  than  one  of  the 
instruments  which  he  uses." 

4.  Guard  yourself  against  writing  for  rhetorical 

effect  in  the  introduction. 

The  temptation  to  fine  writing  is  stronger  here 
than  in  connection  with  any  other  part  of 
discourse,  and  there  is  more  danger  of  being 
artificial,  insincere,  than  anywhere  else  in  the 
sermon. 

Ask :  How  would  this  introduction  strike  me 
if  I  was  in  the  pew  listening  to  it  ? 


62  FOR  PULPIT  AND  PLATFORM 

5.  If  necessary,  strive  to  get  into  an  intellectual 
and  spiritual  glow  by  reading  a  stimulating 
author  before  attempting  to  compose  the 
introduction.  Do  not  begin  to  write  in 
absolutely  cold  blood. 

The  Svbject  (technically,  The  Proposition) 

The  securing  of  legitimate  and  suitable  subjects 
of  discourse  from  the  Scriptures  is  basic  in  the 
preacher's  art,  and  it  is  among  the  most  difficult 
as  well  as  the  most  delightful  of  his  tasks.  The 
freshness,  tone,  power  of  his  preaching  vitally  center 
here.  He  is  to  remember  that  the  truths  of  the  Bible 
were  originally  intended  and  adapted  for  people 
remote  in  time  and  distance,  and  in  an  environment 
wholly  unlike  that  of  our  time  and  in  this  western 
land.  The  Bible  has  a  marked  local  coloring. 
The  preacher  seeks  the  living,  abiding  content  of 
its  truth,  which  finds  its  central  expression  in  the 
propositions  of  his  discourses. 

The  most  effective  preachers,  other  things  being 
equal,  are  those  who  have  the  fine  homiletic  insight 
to  deduce  from  an  antique  Book  the  most  apt  and 
telling  subjects  of  present-day  discourse. 

The  subjects  of  such  preachers  as  the  following  are 
worthy  of  special  study:  Newman,  Robertson, 
Parker,  MacLaren,  Watkinson,  Morrison,  Bushnell, 
Brooks,  G.  A.  Gordon,  Coffin,  Jowett. 


THE   STRUCTURE   OF  DISCOURSE  63 

Whyte :  "The  very  titles  of  Newman's  sermons 
are  a  study  in  homiletics.  To  read  and 
ponder  his  simple  titles  is  a  stimulus  to  the 
mind  of  the  ministerial  reader.  A  carpenter 
friend  of  mine  once  told  me  that  sometimes 
on  a  Sabbath  night  he  took  down  a  volume  of 
Newman's  sermons  just  for  the  benefit  and 
delight  of  reading  over  their  titles." 

I.  The  Qualities  of  the  Subject 

1.  It  should  contain  a  central  Scripture  truth. 
Incentives  to  the  preacher  for  using  the  greater 

themes : 
(1)  The  most  eminent  and  successful  toilers 
in  so-called  secular  spheres  grapple  with 
great  themes. 

a.  In  literature : 
History,  Gibbon. 
Poetry,  Milton. 
Oratory,  Burke. 
Tragedy,  Sophocles. 
Philosophy,  Plato. 

b.  In  Painting,  Raphael. 

c.  In  Music,  Beethoven. 

d.  In  Sculpture,  Angelo. 

e.  In  Architecture,  Wren. 

The  preacher  is  to  remember  that  he  has  in 


64  FOR  PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

the  Christian  religion  the  greatest  theme 
of  all. 

(2)  The  most  eminent  and  useful  preachers 

employ  great  themes. 

South:     Interest    deposed    and    truth 

restored.    All  contingencies  under  the 

direction  of  God. 
Chalmers:    On  the  Reasonableness  of 

Faith. 
Bushnell :  The  Completing  of  the  Soul. 

The  Immediate  Knowledge  of  God. 
MacLaren :  The  Living  Dead.    Love  and 

Forgiveness. 

(3)  The  Best  Writers  on  Preaching,  among 

whom  are  some  of  the  strongest  and  most 
effective  preachers,  urge  the  use  of 
central  subjects.^ 

(4)  The  central  truths  of  Scripture  are  the 

most  useful  truths. 
This  is  evidenced  by  the  history  of  preach- 
ing. 
2.  The  subject  should  contain  a  specific  truth. 
Newman :  "  I  would  go  the  length  of  recom- 
mending a  preacher  to  place  a  distinct 
categorical  proposition  before  him,  such 
as  he  can  write  down  in  a  form  of  words, 
and  to  guide  and  limit  his  preparation  by 

*  Appendix  VI. 


THE   STRUCTURE   OF   DISCOURSE  65 

it,  and  to  aim  in  all  he  says  to  bring  it  out, 
and  nothing  else.  Nothing  is  so  fatal  to 
the  effect  of  a  sermon  as  the  habit  of 
preaching  on  three  or  fom*  subjects  at 
once/' 
The  specific  proposition  has  four  advantages : 

(1)  It  strengthens  the  preacher's  intellect. 
It  grinds  it  down  to  a  keen  edge. 

(2)  It  stimulates  to  fertility  of  invention.^ 

(3)  It  tends  to  impart  definiteness  to  the  pres- 

entation of  truth  in  the  division  and  in 
the  development  of  the  sermon. 

(4)  It  tends  to  cultivate  discrimination  in  the 

hearers  in  listening  to  the  truth  of  the 
sermon. 
3.  The  subject  should  be  framed  with  the  utmost 
precision  of  diction. 

Shedd:  "A  propositional  sentence  is  very 
different  from  an  ordinary  sentence.  The 
proposition  of  a  sermon  ought  to  be  emi- 
nent for  the  nice  exactness  of  its  expression 
and  the  hard  finish  of  its  diction.  As  a 
constituent  part  of  the  skeleton  it  should 
be  purest  bone." 
There  are  four  reasons  for  this : 
(1)  The  subject  is  the  heart  of  the  discourse. 
Fenelon:  "The  discourse  is  the  proposition 

*  Appendix  VII. 


66  FOR   PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

unfolded,  and  the  proposition  is  the  dis- 
course condensed." 
Phelps:    "The  proposition  is  to  the  dis- 
course what  the  heart  is  to  the  physical 
system.    The  relation  is  organic." 

(2)  The  brevity  of  the  subject. 

(3)  It  is  to  be  heard,  not  read. 

(4)  As  with  the  specific  quality  of  the  propo- 

sition, it  stimulates  to  exactness  of  the 
preacher's  mental  movement  and  expres- 
sion throughout  the  discourse. 
On  exactness  of  statement  of  the  subject 
see  J.  H.  Jowett,  "The  Preacher,"  p.  133. 
4.  The  subject  should  be  fresh  in  both  thought 
and  expression. 
Freshness    of   subject   spreads   its   contagion 
through  the  entire  sermon.     Fresh  preaching, 
so  essential  in  our  time,  largely  inheres  in 
freshness  of  topic. 
Freshness  of  subject  may  be  secured  in  three 
very  simple  ways : 

(1)  By  careful  exegetical,  imaginative,  emo- 

tional study  of  the  text  in  its  individual 
words,  clauses,  setting. 

(2)  By  studying  the  best  models  of  subjects. 

(3)  By  persistent  practice. 

The  last  by  far  the  most  important  and 
rewarding. 


THE   STRUCTURE   OF   DISCOURSE  67 

The  Analysis  of  the  Subject  ^ 

In  dividing  the  subject  for  presentation  in  public 
discourse  two  qualities  are  to  be  specially  stressed : 
Variety  and  Visibility. 

I.  Variety 

The  preacher  should  be  slave  to  no  one  method, 
but  master  of  all  methods.  This  is  imperative  in 
sustained  interest  and  power  in  the  pulpit.  Monot- 
ony here  condemns  more  surely  and  more  swiftly 
than  almost  anywhere  else  in  current  preaching. 

How  may  variety  be  secured  ? 

1.  By  the  preacher  being  true  to  himself  in  the 
analysis  of  the  subject  of  discourse. 
He  should  use  no  other  man's  method,  no 
matter  how  superior  to  his  own  it  may  be. 
In  the  preparation  of  every  sermon,  its 
outline  should  spring  out  of  his  own  mind 
and  heart.  If  the  preacher  has  the  degree 
of  individuality  that  warrants  his  being  a 
preacher,  his  own  method,  although  much 
inferior  to  another's,  is  the  best  for  him, 
because  it  is  his.  He  gets  himself  expressed 
in  it  for  larger  effectiveness  than  by  adopting 
the  method  of  the  most  brilliant  homiletic 
genius.     His  personal  flavor  is  there,  and 

^  Appendix  VIII. 


68  FOR  PULPIT  AND   PLATFORM 

that  counts  for  much  in  the  estimation  of  his 
hearers.  It  sometimes  costs  a  large  measure 
of  independence  and  courage,  particularly 
in  the  earlier  years  of  the  ministry,  for  the 
preacher  to  be  true  to  himself  in  this  regard. 
But  it  is  the  only  way  in  which  to  grow  into 
the  greatest  personal  development  as  a  com- 
municator of  Christian  truth.  And,  in  the 
end,  it  is  certain  to  yield  its  own  rich  reward. 
He  is  on  the  way  to  becoming  a  master  of 
assemblies. 

2.  By  having  the  subject  dominate  the  plan. 
That  is  to  say,  by  not  arbitrarily  superimposing 

an  artificial  outline  upon  the  subject,  but  by 
drawing  out  the  truth  of  the  subject.  Thus 
as  varied  as  is  the  definite  truth  of  each 
proposition,  so  varied  will  be  its  analytic 
treatment.  Herein  is  found  one  of  the 
most  fruitful  sources  of  an  interesting  and 
persuasive  variety  in  public  discourse. 

3.  By  the  preacher  being  true  to  the  genius  of  a 

text. 
Phelps  warns  against  bombarding  a  text. 
The  genius  of  a  text  sometimes  lends  it  to 
textual  division,  sometimes  to  topical  divi- 
sion. That  is,  the  different  clauses  of  the 
text  may  constitute  the  analysis  of  the 
subject,  or  the  subject  itself,  independent  of 


THE   STRUCTURE   OF   DISCOURSE  69 

the  text  from  which  it  is  drawn,  may  furnish 

the  divisions,  the  so-called  topical  method. 

Examples  of  each  method  : 

The  following  examples  are  taken  from  varied 

sources.    They  are  partly  the  author's  and 

are    partly    adopted    from    others.    The 

practical  use  that  they  serve  does  not  call 

for  specific  acknowledgment  of  authorship. 

(1)  The  textual  division. 

a.  The  divisions  may  proceed  in  the  order 

of  the  words  or  clauses  of  the  text  and 

expressed  in  the  language  of  the  text. 
I.    Corinthians    13:13.       "And    now 

abideth,  Faith,  Hope,  Love;    these 

three." 
Subject :  The  Abiding  Christian  Virtues. 

1.  Faith. 

2.  Hope. 

3.  Love. 

n.   Corinthians  13 :  14.     Subject :  The 
Threefold  Benediction : 

1.  The    Grace   of   the   Lord    Jesus 

Christ. 

2.  The  Love  of  God. 

3.  The    Communion    of    the    Holy 

Spirit. 

b.  The  divisions  may  proceed  in  the  order 

of  the  clauses  of  the  text  and  be  ex- 


70  FOR  PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

pressed  in  the  language  of  the  text 

and  the  preacher's  language. 
Psalm  84 :  11.     "For  the  Lord  God  is  a 

Sun  and  Shield.     The  Lord  will  give 

grace  and  glory." 
Subject:    God's  twofold  manifestation 

to  us,  and  God's  twofold  gift  to  us. 

I.  God's  twofold  manifestation  to  us — 
For  the  Lord  God  is  a  sun  and  shield. 

II.  God's  twofold  gift  to  us  — 

The  Lord  will  give  grace  and  glory. 
c.  The  divisions  may  proceed  in  the  logical 
order  of  the  content  of  the  text. 
Ephesians     5 :  20.       "  Giving     thanks 
always  for  all  things  to  God." 

1.  What  we  are  to  do  —  give  thanks. 

2.  To  whom  — God. 

3.  What  for  —  all  things. 

4.  When  —  always. 
(2)  The  topical  division. 

Here  is  offered  a  threefold  variety.  The 
analysis  may  proceed  through  the  sub- 
ject, through  the  predicate,  or  through 
the  copula. 

I.  John  4 :  18.  "  Perfect  love  casts  out 
fear." 

Love  —  It  casts  out  fear  because  it  is 
full  of  devotion,  of  hope,  of  joy. 


THE   STRUCTURE   OF   DISCOURSE  71 

Fear  —  Love  casts  out  the  fear  of  God's 
wrath,  of  ill  success,  of  the  judgments 
of  men,  of  ingratitude. 
Casts  out  —  Love  casts  out  fear ;  for  we 
cannot  fear  when  we  love;    we  have 
nothing  to  fear  when  we  love. 
4.   By  variously  expressing  the  truth  of  the  divi- 
sion— positively,  negatively,  interrogatively. 

The  foregoing  examples  are  sufficient  to  indicate 
the  possible  variety  in  analyzing  subjects  of  discourse. 
If  the  preacher  will  permit  his  homiletic  insight  to 
have  its  way  and  will  cultivate  it  by  constant  and 
wise  use  he  will  be  delivered  from  bondage  to  mo- 
notony in  dividing  propositions  —  one  of  his  easiest 
and  worst  banes. 

11.  Visibility 

What  is  meant  by  it  ?    It  does  not  mean  — 

1.  Minute  and  artificial  detail  in  breaking  up  a 

subject  for  treatment. 

2.  The  formal  numbering  and  announcing  of  divi- 

sions, either  at  the  opening  or  during  the 
progress  of  a  discourse. 

3.  What  is  meant  is  the  difference  between   a 

natural,  visible  plan  and  the  free-essay  style 
of  preaching  that  purposely  conceals  the 
outline,  as  advocated  by  Alexander  in  his 
"Thoughts  on  Preaching,"  page  32,  "Di- 


72  FOR  PULPIT  AND   PLATFORM 

viding  Sermons,"  and  page  44,  "Free  Writ- 
ing," or,  to  put  the  matter  concretely,  the 
difference  between  the  method  of  Robertson, 
Liddon,  MacLaren,  Spnrgeon,  G.  A.  Gordon, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  Arnold,  Kingsley, 
Stanley,  Holland,  on  the  other.  Instead  of 
trying  to  conceal  the  outline,  the  preacher 
purposely  discloses  it  to  the  hearer  that  he 
may  be  aided  in  grasping  and  retaining  the 
progress  of  the  thought  at  the  chief  stages  of 
the  discourse.  In  other  words,  that  his  mem- 
ory and  attention  may  be  economized.^ 

The  distinctness  of  the  divisions  and  the  degree  of 
formality  in  numbering  and  announcing  them  is  in 
proportion  to  the  tax  the  sermon  makes  upon  the 
intellect  of  the  hearer.  The  more  thoughtful  the 
discourse  the  louder  the  call  for  visibility  of  outline. 
Didactic,  doctrinal,  argumentative  preaching  re- 
quires more  formality  of  method  than  preaching 
that  is  addressed  more  particularly  to  the  imagina- 
tion and  the  feelings,  which  seem  to  have  a  sort  of 
order  of  their  own.  Consolatory,  hortatory,  de- 
scriptive sermons  do  not  yield  themselves  to  severity 
and  distinctness  of  outline. 

The  traditional  sermon  on  Spring,  with  the  follow- 
ing carefully  marked  plan,   is  a  caricature  of  an 

*  Appendix  IX. 


THE   STRUCTURE    OF   DISCOURSE  73 

intrinsically  valuable  method  in  certain  kinds  of 
discourse. 

First :  I  shall  show  what  Spring  is. 

Secondly :  I  shall  prove  there  is  a  Spring. 

Thirdly :  I  shall  answer  the  objections. 

I  shall  endeavor  to  confute  those  who  say  there 
is  no  Spring. 

And  lastly :  I  shall  apply  the  subject. 
The  general  rule  would  be  to  announce  the  divi- 
sions with  the  least  formality  consistent  with  the 
utmost  clearness  and  sharpness  in  grasping  the  truth 
of  the  sermon  on  the  part  of  the  hearers. 

Before  closing  the  discussion  of  the  divisions,  it 
is  pertinent  to  remark  that,  in  order  most  effectively 
to  serve  the  end  of  their  use  in  preaching,  they  should 
be  few.  Two  or  three  are  better  than  five  or  six. 
By  contracting  the  number  of  divisions  the  preacher 
is  likely  to  pack  more  thought,  and  more  clearly 
defined  thought,  into  those  he  employs,  and  so  does 
not  dissipate,  but  concentrates,  the  truth  of  the 
proposition,,  which  tends  to  make  his  preaching 
suggestive,  rather  than  wearily  exhaustive. 

If  divisions  are  unduly  multiplied  in  a  sermon 
they  tend  to  defeat  one  of  the  ends  of  their  exist- 
ence —  the  economizing  of  the  mental  expenditure 
of  the  hearer  by  relieving  his  memory  and  attention. 
"Amplify  rather  than  multiply"  should  be  the  law 
of  modern  preaching. 


74  FOR  PULPIT  AND  PLATFORM 

The  Application 

Spurgeon:  ^' Where  the  appHcation  begins,  there 
the  sermon  begins." 

The  application  may  be  distributed  throughout  the 
body  of  the  discourse,  or  concentrated  in  the  con- 
clusion, which  is  always  applicatory  in  character. 
In  textual  and  expository  preaching,  the  former 
method  is  the  more  natural  and  effective ;  in  topical 
preaching,  the  application  appears  as  a  burning 
point  at  the  end  of  the  discourse.  The  forms  of  the 
application  are  numerous ;  inference,  recapitulation, 
remarks,  lessons,  appeal.  When  skillfully  handled, 
recapitulation  is  one  of  the  most  efifective  ways  of 
applying  the  truths  of  discourse.  Many  leading 
preachers  have  used  this  method  with  marked 
interest  and  power. 

Brooks:  "A  sermon  is  not  like  a  picture  which, 
once  painted,  stands  all  together  before  the  eye. 
Its  parts  elude  the  memory,  and  it  is  good,  before 
you  close,  to  gather  all  the  parts  together,  and, 
as  briefly  as  you  can,  set  them  as  one  completed 
whole  before  your  hearers'  mind."  ^ 

Broadly  speaking,  the  application  is  neglected  in 
present-day  preaching,  much  to  the  loss  of  effective- 
ness. This  is  notably  true  of  the  appeal.  It  is 
almost  a  lost  art  in  preaching.    The  truth  of  dis- 

*  Appendix  X. 


THE   STRUCTURE   OF   DISCOURSE  75 

course  is  not  pressed  home  upon  hearers  in  order 
to  secure  immediate  decision  concerning  it.  Modern 
preaching  is  full  of  good  advice;  it  is  thoroughly 
reasonable,  but  it  is  not  adequately  constructed  to 
produce  action.  It  too  often  seems  to  be  satisfied 
to  lodge  the  truth  in  the  minds  of  hearers,  and  to 
leave  it  there  to  do  its  own  work.  It  does  not  suffi- 
ciently impinge  upon  the  conscience  and  the  will  of 
an  audience.  Professor  Fisher,  the  eminent  Church 
historian,  has  given  his  testimony  on  this  point: 
"There  is  not  enough  effort  in  the  pulpit  to  produce 
an  immediate  decision  on  the  question,  'Whom  will 
ye  serve?'"  ^ 

1  Appendix  XI. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    DIFFERENT    WAYS    OF    PREPARING    AND 
DELIVERING  DISCOURSES 

I.  Writing  in  Full  and  Delivering  from  Manu- 
script 

It  has  been  commonly  stated  that  this  method 
began  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII  of  England,  when 
preachers  needed  to  be  on  their  guard  as  to  what 
they  said.  This  seems  to  be  an  error.  Lupton 
in  his  "Life  of  Colet"  says  that  "one  of  the  charges 
for  heresy  against  Colet  was,  according  to  Erasmus, 
having  said  in  the  pulpit  that  there  were  some  who 
preached  written  sermons  —  the  stiff  and  formal 
way  of  many  in  England  —  he  had  indirectly 
reflected  on  his  Bishop,  who,  from  his  advanced  age, 
was  in  the  habit  of  so  doing."  This  would  indicate 
that  the  written  method  was  practiced  early  in  the 
sixteenth  century  —  about  1511-12,  or  a  little  later, 
many  years  prior  to  the  Reformation  in  England 
and  the  time  of  Henry  VIII,  concerning  which 
the  Saturday  Review  pertinently  remarks:  "It 
shows  that  the  custom  of  preaching  written  sermons 
did  not,  as  is  often  supposed,  come  in  with  the 

76 


PREPARING  AND  DELIVERING  DISCOURSES    77 

Reformation,  and  is  rather  an  English  than  a  Protes- 
tant peculiarity/' 

The  written  method  has  been  used  chiefly  in 
England,  Scotland,  and  America. 

In  England 

Some  of  the  leading  preachers  of  the  seventeenth 
century  wrote  and  read  their  sermons:  Hooker, 
Taylor,  South. 

Modern  English  preachers  have  used  the  same 
method  :  Newman,  Liddon,  Stanley,  Church,  Farrar, 
and  others. 

In  Scotland 

Andrew  Thomson,  Chalmers,  Robert  S.  Candlish. 

In  America 

Jonathan  Edwards  and  his  successors.  Many  of 
the  most  eminent  and  useful  American  preachers 
have  used  this  method :  Bushnell,  Taylor,  Brooks, 
Parkhurst,  Gordon. 

Among  the  Unitarians :  Channing,  Dewey,  Gan- 
nett, Putnam. 

II.    Writing  in  Full  and  Delivering  Memor- 

ITER 

This  method  has  prevailed  on  the  continent  of 
Europe  —  in  France,  Germany,  Italy.     Some  of  the 


78  FOR  PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

great  French  preachers  of  the  seventeenth  century : 
Bossuet,  Bourdaloue. 


III.  Not  Writing  in  Full,  or  at  All,  and  De- 
livering WITHOUT  Manuscript;  the  So- 
called  Extemporaneous  Method 

By  "extemporaneous''  is  not  meant  unpremedi- 
tated, impromptu.  The  etymological  sense  of  the 
word  applies  only  to  the  delivery.  The  sentences, 
not  the  thoughts,  are  born  at  the  time.  It  is  always 
understood  that  the  materials  of  the  sermon  have 
been  carefully  prepared. 

The  extemporaneous  method  was  the  prevalent  one 
during  the  first  five  centuries  of  the  Christian  era : 
Origen,  Chrysostom,  Basil,  the  two  Gregories, 
Augustine. 

Preachers  of  the  Middle  Ages :  Bernard  of  Clair- 
vaux,  and  others. 

Preachers  of  the  Reformation  period :  Luther, 
Calvin. 

Some  of  the  leading  seventeenth-century  preachers, 
both  English  and  French. 

Many  modern  preachers  in  England  and  America : 
Robertson,  Spurgeon,  MacLaren,  Storrs,  Methodist 
preachers  generally. 


PREPARING  AND  DELIVERING  DISCOURSES    79 

IV.  The  Modifications  of  These  Three  Fun- 
damental Methods  Are  Numerous 

1.  A  fully  written  sermon,  partly  read,  and  partly 

delivered  memoriter. 

2.  A  sermon  fully  written,  and  purely  improvised 

thoughts  inserted  during  delivery. 

3.  A  sermon  partly  written  and  partly  read,  the 

rest  being  extemporaneous  in  both  prepara- 
tion and  delivery. 

4.  A    sermon    fully    written,   with   the  train  of 

thought,  not  the  words,  mastered  and 
delivered  without  manuscript. 

5.  A  sermon  mentally  composed,  without  aid  of 

writing,  and  essentially  committed  to 
memory. 

6.  The  chief  heads  and  the  transitions  of  an 

extemporary  sermon,  also  close  of  the  im- 
portant paragraphs  and  particular  illustra- 
tions, committed  to  memory. 

ADVANTAGES  OF  THE  WRITTEN  OVER  THE 
EXTEMPORANEOUS  METHOD  OF  PREPAR- 
ING SERMONS.i 

1.  The  first  advantage  is  superiority  of  the  subject 
matter. 
The  thought  in  the  written  sermon  is  likely  to 

*  Appendix  XII. 


80  FOR  PULPIT  AND  PLATFORM 

be  more  profound,  compact,  clearer,  fresher. 
"The  pen  is  a  marvelous  magnet  to  draw 
thought  out  of  the  brain."  The  history 
of  preaching  verifies  the  foregoing  statement 
and  it  is  supported  by  the  best  sermonic 
critics. 

Bautain:  "The  pen  is  the  scalpel  which 
dissects  the  thoughts,  and  never,  except 
when  you  write  down  what  you  behold 
internally,  can  you  succeed  in  clearly 
discerning  all  that  is  contained  in  a  con- 
ception, or  in  obtaining  its  well-marked 
scope." 
Park:  "We  are  compelled  to  admit  that  of 
two  men,  one  of  whom  uniformly  preaches 
what  he  has  written,  and  the  other  uni- 
formly preaches  what  he  has  not  written, 
the  former  will  in  mature  life  be  apt  to  ex- 
cel the  other  in  depth  and  comprehensive- 
ness of  discourse." 
Brooks :  "  I  think  that  the  best  sermons  that 
ever  have  been  preached,  taking  all  the 
qualities  of  sermons  into  account,  have 
probably  been  extemporaneous  sermons, 
but  that  the  number  of  good  sermons 
preached  from  manuscript  have  probably 
been  far  greater  than  the  number  of  good 
sermons  preached  extemporaneously." 


PREPARING  AND  DELIVERING  DISCOURSES    81 

The  reason  of  the  superiority  of  the  written  to 
the  extemporaneous  sermon  in  respect  of 
material  may  be  termed  a  physiological  one. 
The  mind  calls  to  its  aid  two  of  the  bodily 
senses  —  the  sense  of  touch  and  the  sense  of 
sight.  Touch  aids  the  eye,  and  both  aid 
the  mind.  They  hold  the  mind  to  exactness 
of  movement  in  the  process  of  thinking, 
and  the  eye  reports  to  the  mind  defects  in  the 
expressed  thought. 

Bautain  :  "  One  is  never  fully  conscious  of  all 

that  is  in  one's  own  thought  except  after 

having   written    it   out.     So   long   as   it 

remains  shut  up  in  the  inside  of  the  mind, 

it  preserves  a  certain  haziness;   one  does 

not  see  it  completely  unfolded;   and  one 

cannot  consider  it  on  all  sides,  in  each 

of  its  facets,  in  each  of  its  bearings." 

2.  A   second    advantage    is    superiority    in    the 

arrangement  of  the  subject  matter. 

Sir   Matthew   Hale   said   that,    "while   he 

wrote   down    what   he   thought   on,   his 

thoughts  were  the  easier  kept  close  to 

work,  and  kept  in  method." 

This  advantage  is  not  so  inherent  in  the  method 

of   preparation   as   is   the   first   advantage 

named.     Indeed,    there    are   those,    among 

them  Drs.  Dale  and  Robinson,  who  maintain 


82  FOR   PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

that  the  advantage  here  is  on  the  side  of  the 
extemporaneous  sermon.     One  reason  given 
for   this   is,  that   the  arrangement   of   the 
thoughts  is  held  in  a  fluid  state  longer  than 
in  the  case  of  the  written  sermon  and  so 
more  time  is  allowed  for  securing  the  best 
method.     Theoretically,  there  is  some  force 
in  this  position,  but  "in  point  of  fact,"  as 
it  has  been  said,  "there  are  more  unintelli- 
gible trains  of  thought  in  extemporaneous 
than  in  written  sermons."     And  the  fact 
is  to  be  accounted  for,  it  is  to  be  feared,  on 
the  ground  that  the  extempore  preacher  does 
not  bring  himself  to  the  work  of  preparation 
with  the  same  faithfulness  that  the  writer 
of  sermons  does.     He  is  likely  to  trust  too 
much  to  his  acquired  facility  of  speech  and 
to  the  inspiration  of  the  moment  of  delivery. 
A.  P.  Peabody:   "The  extempore  sermon  is 
likely  to  be  particularly   faulty   in   the 
introduction,  which  is  long  and  repetitious. 
I  think  that  from  a  fourth  to  a  third  part 
of  the  first  half  of  most  of  the  extempore 
sermons  that  I  have  heard  might  have 
been    omitted,    had    the    sermon    been 
written." 
If  the  plan  of  the  extemporaneous  sermon  is 
fully  and  carefully  written  out,  the  written 


PREPARING  AND  DELIVERING  DISCOURSES   83 

sermon  has  little  or  no  superiority  in  the 
arrangement  of  the  material  unless  it  may 
be  in  some  of  the  details  of  the  development. 

3.  A  third  advantage  is  superiority  in   certain 

fundamental  qualities  of  style ;  such  as  clear- 
ness, exactness,  conciseness,  elegance. 
Bacon's  aphorism  is  true  of  the  preacher: 
"Writing  maketh  an  exact  man."  The 
extemporizer,  especially  if  he  is  of  warm 
temperament,  is  in  great  danger  of  exagger- 
ation, difluseness,  repetition  of  statement. 
The  pen,  to  use  Cicero's  phrase,  "eats 
down"  exuberance  of  style.  Here,  again, 
the  writer  of  sermons  calls  to  his  aid  the 
service  of  the  eye  both  in  the  process  of 
composition  and  of  correction,  and  this  is  a 
very  great  help  in  cultivating  exactness, 
conciseness,  and  elegance  of  style.  Wilkin- 
son: "No  merely  human  speaker  ever  yet 
spoke  on  this  planet  whose  extemporary 
utterance,  taken  down  without  change 
absolutely  as  it  fell  from  his  lips,  would 
read  grammatically,  rhetorically,  and  logi- 
cally clear  of  fault  —  judged,  I  mean,  by  the 
relative  standard  of  that  same  speaker's 
own  written  production." 

4.  A  fourth  advantage  consists  in  superiority  in 

the  elaborate  treatment  of  the  central  truths 


84  FOR  PULPIT  AND  PLATFORM 

of  Christianity ;  such  as  the  Attributes  of 
God,  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  the  Atonement, 
The  Inspiration  of  the  Scriptures. 
Such  treatment  of  such  themes  compels  the 
mind  to  its  severest  thinking.  They  are 
open  to  subtle  objections.  They  are  beset 
with  great  difficulties  in  popular  presenta- 
tion. They  require,  therefore,  on  the  part 
of  the  preacher,  patient  and  deep  reflection, 
nice  discrimination,  close  reasoning,  accuracy 
of  statement.  These  cannot  be  secured  with 
certainty  unless  the  sermon  is  fully  and 
carefully  written. 
5.  A  fifth  advantage  is  that  the  written  method 
preserves  the  fruits  of  the  preacher's  severest 
toil. 
Every  thoughtful  and  sincere  preacher,  in 
certain  stages  of  his  ministerial  course, 
labors  exceptionally  long  and  hard  in  the 
investigation  of  a  truth  or  truths  of  God's 
Word.  He  may  never  have  so  good  an 
opportunity  again  for  such  investigations, 
and,  if  he  should,  he  might  not  expect  to 
do  any  better.  It  is  a  serious  loss  of  time 
and  strength  and  of  mental  expenditure  to  be 
compelled  to  go  over  the  same  essential 
ground  again.  The  sermons,  therefore,  that 
embody  the  fruit  of  such  toil  should  be 


PREPARING  AND  DELIVERING  DISCOURSES  85 

carefully  written  out.  They  may  bear 
repetition. 
6.  A  sixth  advantage  is  that  writing  stimulates  to 
continuous  faithfulness  in  preparation,  and 
so  contributes  to  the  constant  growth  of  the 
preacher  as  a  thinker  and  scholar. 

The  written  method  compels  the  preacher  to 
give  a  certain  amount  of  time,  usually  con- 
siderable time,  each  week  to  the  making 
of  the  sermon.  And  the  very  act  of  using 
the  pen  enlists  the  consent  of  the  mind  and 
commits  it  to  toil.  Brooks:  "Whatever 
may  be  said  about  the  duty  of  labor  upon 
extemporaneous  discourses,  the  advantage 
in  point  of  faithfulness  will  no  doubt  always 
be  with  the  written  sermon.  Many  a  man 
speaks  what  he  would  not  dare  to  write." 
Experience  proves  that  the  ministerial  con- 
science less  easily  tolerates  vicious  extem- 
poraneousness  in  writing  than  in  unwritten 
address. 

Writing  seems  to  be  intrinsically  fitted  to  create 
and  to  foster  a  critical  mental  habit;  there 
seems  to  be  a  vital  alliance  between  the 
habit  of  writing  and  the  choicest  culture. 

The  preacher,  therefore,  who  admits  that 
he  cannot  write  a  sermon  makes  a  most 
damaging  and  humiliating  confession.    It  is 


86  FOR  PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

as  great  a  calamity  not  to  be  able  to  express 
one's  thoughts  in  writing  as  it  is  to  be  a 
perpetual  slave  to  the  pen.  No  true  minister 
of  Christ  should  tolerate  either. 

ADVANTAGES    AND    DISADVANTAGES    OF    THE 
MEMORITER  METHOD 

I.  Advantages 

So  far  as  preparation  goes,  this  method  is  identical 
with  the  written  method  and  possesses  all  its  ad- 
vantages. In  one  respect,  the  sermon  written  to  be 
delivered  from  memory  is  likely  to  be  superior  to  the 
sermon  that  is  written  to  be  read  in  the  pulpit  — 
the  individual  sentences  are  framed  and  the  topics 
arranged  with  a  view  to  fitness  for  delivery.  Sim- 
plicity and  clearness  characterize  the  method ;  direct- 
ness, brevity,  absence  of  involved  structure,  the 
sentences.  It  has  been  said  of  Dr.  Guthrie,  as  a 
memoriter  preacher,  that  he  cut  out  the  parts  of  dis- 
course that  did  not  readily  submit  to  the  memory. 
In  delivery,  the  memoriter  method  affords  the 
preacher  the  advantage  of  the  normal  position  of  the 
body  and  of  the  organs  of  speech. 

II.  Disadvantages 

These  are  numerous,  and  for  the  great  majority  of 
preachers,  fatal  to  the  effective  delivery  of  the  sermon. 


PREPARING  AND  DELIVERING  DISCOURSES    87 

1.  It  consumes  too  much  time  in  committing  the 

manuscript. 

2.  It  overburdens  the  ordinary  verbal  memory. 

3.  It  injures  the  memory  by  making  its  action 

excessive,  abnormal. 
The  memory  is  loaded  down  with  a  piece  of 
work  for  a  merely  temporary  purpose,  and 
it  is  then  discharged.  This  mechanical  use 
of  the  memory  is  in  danger  of  weakening 
it  for  its  more  philosophical  functions. 

4.  It  monopolizes  the  memory  in  delivery  at  the 

expense  of  the  other  powers  of  the  preacher 
that  are  essential  to  the  most  effective 
utterance:  the  intellect,  the  imagination, 
the  sensibility,  which  are  operative  in  both 
reading  and  extemporaneous  delivery. 

5.  It    fetters    the    preacher^s    personality :     the 

power  which  lies  back  of,  and  enforces,  his 
intellect,  imagination,  emotion. 
He  is  hindered  from  throwing  himself  upon  the 
audience  in  a  free,  natural,  impressive  way, 
as  he  can  in  either  reading  or  extemporizing. 
It  brings  into  bondage  his  eye.  It  is  in  fact 
reading  the  sermon  from  the  tablet  of 
memory  instead  of  from  a  manuscript.  The 
eye  is  introverted,  lusterless,  and  so  is  as 
much  of  a  barrier  between  the  preacher 
and  the  hearer  as  reading  is.    The  audience 


88  FOR  PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

might  as  well  see  a  partially  dropped  eyelid 
as  a  dull,  lifeless  eye.  It  has  been  said  of 
Bourdaloue  that  he  closed  his  eyes  while 
delivering  his  memoriter  discourse. 

6.  It  is  difficult  to  avoid  the  air  of  recitation  in 

delivery.  "Monotony  and  wearisome  same- 
ness of  cadence  are  almost  inevitable." 

7.  It  cuts  the  preacher  off  from  the  insertion  of 

valuable  impromptu  materials,  a  disad- 
vantage that  does  not  attach  to  either  of 
the  other  modes  of  delivery. 

8.  The   preacher   is   exposed   to  the  danger  of 

irretrievably  breaking  down  in  delivery. 
Notwithstanding  the  foregoing  disadvantages 
of  the  memoriter  method,  it  is  not  to  be 
absolutely  condemned  for  all  preachers. 
The  man  with  so  facile  and  retentive  verbal 
memory  as  to  master  the  manuscript  in  a 
single  reading  or  two,  and  whose  personality 
is  unfettered  in  delivery,  may  use  this 
method  to  advantage.  In  the  history  of 
preaching  it  has  been  so  used  by  a  consider- 
able number  of  effective  preachers,  as,  for 
instance.  Dr.  Guthrie,  of  Scotland,  and  it 
is  said  to  be  on  the  increase  at  the  present 
time  by  those  preachers  who  have  found 
the  extemporaneous  method  of  delivery,  on 
account  of  its  verbosity  and  inexactness. 


PREPARING  AND  DELIVERING  DISCOURSES    89 

unsatisfactory,  and  who  are  unwilling  to  fall 
into  the  bondage  of  reading  sermons  in  the 
pulpit. 

THE   ADVANTAGES   OF   THE   EXTEMPORANEOUS 
METHOD  OF  DELIVERING  SERMONS 

Unquestionably,  the  extemporaneous  method  is 
ideally  the  most  effective  one  of  addressing  men  on 
the  topics  of  the  gospel.  It  is  somewhat  unnatural 
either  to  read  or  to  recite  to  our  fellow  men,  rather 
than  to  speak  to  them.  The  manuscript  is  a  barrier 
between  the  preacher  and  his  hearers.  That  barrier 
may  be  reduced  to  a  minimum,  but  not  wholly 
removed.  Other  things  being  equal  —  that  is, 
if  the  sermon  delivered  extemporaneously  could  have 
the  good  qualities  of  the  discourse  delivered  from 
manuscript,  such  as  depth  and  correctness  of 
thought  —  this  method  should  be  used  exclusively. 

I.  Advantages  to  the  Preacher 

1.  The  extemporaneous  mode  of  delivery  and,  to 
some  extent,  the  extemporaneous  mode  of 
preparation  are  favorable  to  conducing  in 
the  preacher  alertness  of  mind. 
He  is  likely  to  be  wider  awake  to  all  that  is 
going  on  about  him,  to  be  a  quicker  and  more 
accurate  observer  of  persons  and  things,  and 


90  FOR   PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

readier  to  take  thoughts  on  the  wing  than  is 
the  reader  of  sermons.  This  is  inherent  in 
the  extemporaneous  method.  The  reader 
of  sermons  gives  expression  to  his  thoughts 
in  his  study,  in  the  near  vicinity  of  books, 
and  in  an  atmosphere  favorable  to  the  calm 
and  accurate  working  of  the  reflective  power 
of  the  mind.  This  bondage  to  the  pen  and 
to  the  quiet  of  the  study  in  the  process  of 
composing  is  apt  to  demand  the  same  condi- 
tion in  the  process  of  invention.  The  ex- 
temporizer,  on  the  other  hand,  thinks  and 
composes  on  his  feet,  in  the  act  of  speaking 
to  a  popular  assembly.  This  of  itself  tends 
to  stimulate  his  perceptive  powers,  and  to 
foster  the  mental  habit  of  picking  up  material 
while  moving  among  people. 
2.  It  is  also  conducive  to  speed  of  mental  move- 
ment. This  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  the 
act  of  composing  goes  on  when  the  preacher's 
mind,  his  entire  being,  is  in  a  glow,  induced 
by  sympathetic  contact  with  an  interested 
and  listening  audience.  It  will  be  likely  to 
be,  however,  a  mental  movement  more 
superficial  and  general  than  that  of  the 
writer  and  reader  of  discourses. 


PREPARING  AND  DELIVERING  DISCOURSES  91 

II.  Advantages  to  His  Preaching 

1.  It  is  the  method  of  delivery  most  favorable 

to  the  emphasis  of  the  preacher's  physical 
presence  and  gesture. 

The  entire  physique  is  most  free  and  natural. 
The  audience  gets  the  full  value  of  the  expres- 
sion of  the  preacher's  face  and  particularly 
of  his  eye,  as  they  respond  to  the  varying 
moods  of  his  soul  in  the  passion  of  delivery. 
"The  face  is  the  speech  of  the  body,  and 
the  eye  is  the  emphasis  of  the  face.'* 

The  preacher  has  the  unfettered  use  of  his  body, 
hands,  throat.  Freedom  of  the  hands  is  an 
important  matter  in  impressive  delivery. 
In  reading,  one  hand  at  least  must  be  more  or 
less  in  bondage.  A  preacher  reading  from 
manuscript  the  sentence,  "Let  justice  be 
done,  though  the  heavens  fall!"  made  a 
sweeping  gesture  with  the  left  hand,  keeping 
the  right  hand  at  the  place,  as  "if  what  he 
had  written  must  be  held  fast  whatever  be- 
came of  the  heavens." 

2.  The  extemporaneous  mode  of  delivery  is  most 

favorable   to  the  idea  of  conversation  in 
preaching. 
The  conversational  idea  is  fundamental  in  the 
highest    effectiveness    of    public    discourse. 


92  FOR  PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

The  preacher  is,  in  essence,  carrying  on  a 
dialogue  with  his  hearers.  He  speaks  and 
they  talk  back.  It  is  difficult  to  impart  this 
characteristic  to  the  reading  of  a  sermon 
from  a  manuscript.  It  is  difficult  not  to 
have  it  partake  of  the  nature  of  a  monologue. 
An  analysis  of  the  sermons  of  the  most 
successful  preachers  discovers  the  prominence 
of  the  conversational  quality.  It  belonged 
to  the  preaching  of  such  men  as  Chrysostom, 
Bunyan,  and  Baxter. 

Dr.  M.  B.  Riddle  says:  "In  editing  Chrys- 
ostom I  have  been  struck  by  the  frequency 
with  which  he  introduces  objections  or 
queries,  'phesin,'  he  says,  is  the  word. 
While  his  homilies  are  continuous,  there 
is  a  constant  ideal  interlocutory  process." 
Professor  Goodrich  remarks  that  "almost 
every  great  orator  has  been  distinguished 
for  his  conversational  powers."  The  im- 
plication being  that  this  fact  colored  the 
method  of  his  orations.  Now,  of  course, 
this  characteristic  is  not  necessarily  incon- 
gruous with  the  reading  of  a  sermon.  If 
the  preacher  has  a  lively  imagination  and 
is  able  to  summon  his  hearers  about  him  as 
he  writes,  he  may,  to  some  extent,  carry 
on  a  conversation  with  them,  and  so  impart 


PREPARING  AND  DELIVERING  DISCOURSES   93 

a  conversational  style  to  the  delivery  of  the 
sermon  from  manuscript.     But  it  is  clear 
that  the  preacher  who  has  the  privilege  of 
doing  this  face  to  face  with  an  audience 
that  is  stirred  to  responsiveness  while  he 
speaks,  has  the  decided  advantage  in  this 
regard.    But  even  the  extemporizer  must 
gain   facility   in   this   by   practice.     For 
even  he  may  more  readily  see  an  audience 
rather  than  individual  hearers. 
3.  There  is  a  directness,  a  naturalness,  a  realness, 
an  intensity,  a  warmth  in  extemporaneous 
delivery  which  it  is  difficult  to  convey  to  the 
other  methods. 
The  written  sermon  is  in  danger  of  having  the 
remoteness,  the  indirectness,  the  impersonal- 
ity of  the  book  and  not  the  foregoing  qualities 
of  a  speech.     Earnest  preachers  have  fre- 
quently felt  this. 

Mr.  Wilberforce  characterized  Robert  Hall's 
method  as  the  viviparous  method,  as 
opposed  to  the  oviparous  process  of  the 
written  sermon. 
Cotton  Mather :  "  If  you  must  have  your 
notes  before  you  in  preaching,  yet  let 
there  be  with  you  a  distinction  between 
the  neat  using  of  notes  and  the  dull  reading 
of  them.    Keep   up  the  air  and  life  of 


94  FOR   PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

speaking,  and  put  not  off  your  hearers 
with  a  heavy  reading  to  them.     What  I 
advise  you  to  is,  let  your  notes  be  little 
other  than  a  quiver  on  which  you  may  cast 
your  eye  now  and  then  to  see  what  arrow 
is  to  be  next  fetched  from  thence  and  then, 
with  your  eye  as  much  as  may  be  on  them 
whom  you  speak  to,  let  it  be  shot  away 
with  a  vivacity  of  one  in  earnest  for  to  have 
the  truth  well  entertained  with  the  audi- 
tory." 
Dr.  Storrs  changed  from  reading  to  the  ex- 
temporaneous method  with  "a  desire  to 
make  public  discourse  more  natural,  free, 
and  flexibly  vigorous,  less  literary  in  tone, 
more  direct  and  energetic." 
4.   It  calls  forth  the  "admiration"  of  some  of  the 
people  for  the  preacher's  "independence  of 
artificial  helps." 
In  our  day  this  class  will  probably  contain  a 
large  majority  of  the  hearers,  certainly  about 
all    of    the    less    discriminating.     Whereas 
reading  is  pretty  sure  to  command  the  respect 
of  the  most  sensitive,  who  are  in  fear  of  the 
preacher's  partial  or  complete  failure,  and 
also  of  some  of  the  most  intelligent,  who 
think  that  the  presence  of  the  manuscript  is 
evidence  of  faithfulness  of  preparation,  and 


PREPARING  AND  DELIVERING  DISCOURSES    95 

SO   of   valuable   thought   and   accuracy   of 
statement. 

Brooks:    "A  rough  backwoodsman  in  Vir- 
ginia   heard    Bishop    Meade    preach    an 
extemporaneous  sermon,  and  being  some- 
what unfamiliar  with  the  ways  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  he  said  :  ^He  liked  him. 
He  was  the  first  one  he  ever  saw  of  those 
petticoat  fellows  that  could  shoot  without 
a  rest.'" 
5.  It    has    the    intellectual    advantage    of    the 
preacher's  striking  out  new  thoughts  in  the 
movement  and  glow  of  the  mind  in  speaking. 
This   is   a   decided   advantage.     But   it   is 
conditioned  always  upon  the  thorough  prep- 
aration of  the  sermon ;  for  unpremeditated 
thoughts  are  usually  valuable  in  proportion 
to  the  quality  of  the  preparation.    They  are 
not  purely  extemporaneous;    they  are  the 
fruit  of  a  mind  tense  with  previous  struggles 
at  thinking.    The  better  the  preparation, 
the     more     striking     the     unpremeditated 
thoughts.^ 

Scott :  "The  degree  in  which,  after  the  most 
careful  preparation  for  the  pulpit,  new 
thoughts,  new  arguments,  animated  ad- 
dresses, often  flow  into  my   mind  while 

^  Appendix  XIII. 


96  FOR   PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

speaking  to  a  congregation,  even  on  very 
common  subjects,  makes  me  feel  as  if  I 
were  quite  another  man  than  when  poring 
over  them  in  my  study.     There  will  be 
inaccuracies,  but  generally  the  most  strik- 
ing things  in  my  sermons  were  unpremedi- 
tated." 
6.   It  is  most  effective  in  producing  immediate 
evangelistic  impression. 
There  seems  to  be  a  kind  of  incongruity  between 
reading  or  reciting  a  sermon  and  a  severely 
evangelistic  aim.     In  his  effort  to  secure  im- 
mediate personal  decision,  the  preacher  is  not 
particularly  concerned  with  the  intellect  and 
the  taste  of  the  hearer,  and  so  his  preaching 
does  not  call  for  the  calmness,  the  elaborate- 
ness, the  finish,  characteristic  of  the  written 
sermon.     His  work  is,  in  a  sense,  a  narrower 
one.     He  is  making  assault  upon  the  will. 
Consequently,   he  has  to  do  chiefly  with 
awakening  the  conscience  and  stirring  the 
feelings.     Effective  dealing  with  them  in  the 
compassing  of  his  purpose  requires  in  his 
sermon   directness   and   pungency,   and   in 
himself  an  offhand,  earnest  manner  and  a 
totally  unfettered  personality,  in  order  that 
he  may  grapple  with  his  hearer  with  all 
possible    persuasiveness    of    personal    will 


PREPARING  AND  DELIVERING  DISCOURSES    97 

power.  And  these  are  qualities  peculiar 
to  the  extempore  delivery.  Dr.  Payson 
thought  his  extemporaneous  sermons  the 
most  useful.  Dr.  Chalmers'  extemporaneous 
weekday  evening  addresses  in  St.  John's 
parish,  Glasgow,  were  among  his  most  elo- 
quent and  impressive,  as  he  was  bent  on 
the  one  object  of  winning  souls  to  Christ. 
In  times  of  spiritual  quickening,  preachers 
instinctively  turn  away  from  the  use  of  the 
manuscript.  It  would  seem  to  be  incongru- 
ous for  an  evangelist  to  read  a  sermon.  All 
evangelists  use  the  extemporaneous  mode  of 
delivery,  or  essentially  so. 

FIVE  CONDITIONS  OF  SUCCESS  IN  EXTEMPORA- 
NEOUS PREACHING 

1.  Begin  this  method  at  once  and  stick  to  it. 

Storrs   (quoting  Gilbert  Stuart  concerning 
how  to  learn  to  paint  and  giving  his  words 
a  homiletic  application):    "Just  as  pup- 
pies are  taught  to  swim  —  chuck  them  in." 
The  conscientious  extemporizer  finds  numerous 
difiiculties  in  his  path.     It  is  surpassingly 
difficult  to  become  an  effective  extempora- 
neous preacher.    The  recognition  of  this  goes 
far  toward  achieving  mastery.    For  instance. 


98  FOR   PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

slips  in  logic,  in  grammar,  and  in  expression 
are  bound  to  occur,  and  it  is  easy  for  the 
conscientious  preacher  to  become  discour- 
aged in  the  use  of  this  method.  Let  him 
remember  that  he  is  probably  more  sensitive 
to  defects  than  his  hearers  are,  and  he  should 
not  be  remorselessly  severe  with  himself. 
Let  him  adopt  Whitefield's  method  and 
press  right  on:  "Never  to  take  back  any- 
thing in  delivery  unless  it  were  wicked." 

2.  Thoroughly  prepare  the  material  of  discourse.^ 

Broadus:  "Perhaps  the  greatest  of  all  the 
disadvantages  of  extemporaneous  speaking 
consists  in  the  tendency  to  neglect  of 
preparation  after  one  has  gained  facility 
in  unaided  thinking  and  extemporaneous 
expression. " 

Wildinson:  "Trust  everything  to  prepara- 
tion ;  trust  nothing  to  inspiration." 

Edison  :  "  Genius  is  two  per  cent  inspiration 
and  ninety-eight  per  cent  perspiration." 

Storrs  (quoting  a  German  who  was  pushed 
in  his  trial  to  change  his  evidence) :  "  No, 
I  cannot  change  it,  for  it  is  all  mixed  up 
mit  my  mind." 

3.  Carefully  and  constantly  enrich  expression. 
Next  to  the  danger  of  lack  of  preparation  of  the 

1  Appendix  XIV. 


PREPARING  AND  DELIVERING  DISCOURSES    99 

materials  stands  that  of  poverty  of  diction, 
the  repetition  of  pet  words  and  phrases  and  a 
general  lack  of  mastery  of  the  forces  of 
expression.  The  extemporaneous  preacher, 
if  he  wishes  to  remain  fresh,  interesting,  and 
impressive,  should  be  a  constant  student 
of  the  best  English  literature. 

4.  In  delivery  be  dominated  by  the  practical 

object  of  the  sermon. 
This  tends  to  keep  the  preacher  speaking  to  the 
point,  and  is  an  aid  to  logical  order  of  thought 
and   directness,    conciseness   and    vigor   of 
style. 

5.  When  it  is  time  to  quit,  quit. 

The  temptation  to  undue  length  of  discourse 
is  strong.  Resist  it.  As  it  has  been 
bluntly  put :  "Stand  up,  speak  up,  shut  up." 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  MAKING  OF  THE  DISCOURSE 

I.  The  Work  Prior  to  the  Composing  of  the 
Discourse 

1.  The  preparation  of  the  materials. 

(1)  The  text  is  to  be  critically  studied,  as  to 

its  meaning  and  its  homiletic  subject. 
Usually  the  thrifty  preacher  has  performed 
this  task  long  before  he  needs  to  use  the 
text  in  the  pulpit.  Out  of  the  sphere  of 
his  general  study,  that  has  no  reference 
to  the  next  Sunday's  sermon,  he  has 
supplied  himself  with  a  number  of  texts 
that  are  ready  to  his  hand  when  he  comes 
to  prepare  a  particular  discourse.  For 
the  thorough  mastery  of  the  text  he 
should  call  to  his  aid  the  best  critical 
helps,  such  as  the  concordance,  lexicon, 
grammar. 

(2)  The  materials  should  be  those  which  have 

been  most  thoroughly  premeditated. 
Sometimes  there  is  an  exception  to  this. 
A  plan  and  suitable  materials  will  flash 
100 


THE   MAKING   OP  TfiE' MSCOt^R-l^*'     SO't 

upon  the  mind,  and  are  the  best  for 
immediate  use.  But  the  working  rule 
of  a  ministry  is,  the  more  thoroughly  the 
subject  matter  has  been  digested  in  the 
general  preparation  for  preaching  the 
better  it  is.  This  thoroughness  of  me- 
diate preparation  makes  the  sermon  a 
growth,  rather  than  a  mechanism.  The 
preacher  has  had  time  and  opportunity 
for  judging  of  the  best  proportions  and 
perspective  of  the  truths  to  be  pre- 
sented, and  of  their  fitness  and  value  for 
an  audience.  Such  materials  are  charac- 
terized by  substantialness  as  opposed 
to  the  superficialness  of  unpremeditated 
material,  and  they  impart  to  the  de- 
livery of  the  sermon  that  valuable  ora- 
torical quality  of  reserved  power.  As 
Phillips  Brooks  says:  "The  less  special 
preparation  that  is  needed  for  a  ser- 
mon, the  better  the  sermon  is.  Some 
preachers  are  always  preaching  the  last 
book  which  they  have  read,  and  their 
congregations  always  find  it  out.  The 
feeling  of  superficialness  and  thinness 
attaches  to  all  they  do." 
This  thoroughness  of  general  preparation 
saves  the  preacher  from  the  hurry,  the 


102  FOR  i^tJLPIT  AND  PLATFORM 

worry,  the  wearing  physical  and  mental 
strain  of  seeking  for  materials  under  the 
exciting  pressure  of  the  certain,  swift, 
and  dreadful  approach  of  the  next 
Sunday. 

(3)  The  materials  should  be  those  that  have 

entered  deepest  into  the  preacher's  own 
life. 
The  true  sermon  is  in  the  preacher,  not  in 
the  manuscript.  In  the  best  sense  the 
most  effective  preaching  is  biographical. 
Not  that  the  preacher  retails  to  the 
people  the  particular  items  of  his  per- 
sonal experience,  but  his  discourse  is  the 
outflow,  the  overflow  of  what  the  truth 
has  done  for  him  in  his  deepest  self." 
Robertson  and  Brooks  were  such 
preachers,  which  largely  accounted  for 
their  peculiar  power. 

(4)  The  materials  are  to  be  organized  into  a 

plan. 
The  plan  may  be  more  or  less  detailed, 

minute,  before  the  preacher  begins  to 

write.     It  is  at  least  "to  blaze  the  path 

through  the  woods." 

A.  P.  Peabody:  "Map  out  your  divi- 
sions and  mode  of  treatment  before 
you  put  pen  to  paper/' 


THE   MAKING   OF   THE   DISCOURSE      103 

Dr.  Chalmers'  method,  as  given  by  his 
son-in-law,  Dr.  Hanna,  is  ideal.  It 
is  worthy  of  adoption  by  every 
preacher.  "His  processes  of  thought 
were  slow  —  slow  but  ardent,  like 
Rousseau's  —  but  thorough.  This 
slow  and  deliberate  habit  of  thinking 
gave  him  a  great  advantage  when  the 
act  of  composition  came  to  be  per- 
formed. He  never  had  the  double 
task  to  do  at  once  of  thinking  what 
he  should  say  and  how  he  should  say 
it.  The  one  was  over  before  the  other 
commenced.  He  never  began  to  write 
till,  in  its  subjects  and  the  order  and 
proportion  of  its  parts,  the  map  or 
outline  of  the  future  composition  was 
laid  down  so  distinctly,  and,  as  it  were, 
authoritatively,  that  it  was  seldom 
violated.  When  engaged,  therefore, 
in  writing,  his  whole  undivided 
strength  was  given  to  the  best  and 
most  powerful  expression  of  pre- 
established  ideas.'' 
2.  The  Preacher's  Self-preparation. 

It  has  been  extravagantly  said  that  "the  thing 
of  least  consequence  in  preaching  is  the 
sermon."    It  is  not  extravagant  to  say  that 


104  FOR   PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

the  thing  of  greatest  consequence  in  preach- 
ing is  the  preparation  of  the  preacher  himself 
in  the  making  of  the  sermon.  It  has  been 
remarked  of  Bishop  Wilberforce  in  connec- 
tion with  his  Confirmation  addresses  that 
"the  preparation  was  rather  of  himself  than 
of  that  which  he  was  about  to  utter.  His 
whole  bearing,  voice  and  gesture,  eye  and 
countenance  were  transfigured  by  the 
thought  or  feeling  which  possessed  him.  The 
living  man  as  he  stood  before  you  was, 
almost  without  words,  the  expression  of  that 
feeling." 

Mr.  Pepper,  speaking  as  a  layman  in  his  Yale 
lectures,  "A  Voice  from  the  Crowd,"  says : 
"While  the  careful  preparation  of  the 
discourse  is  a  duty  which  the  speaker 
must  by  no  means  omit,  yet  the  careful 
preparation  of  himself  is  the  more  impor- 
tant matter  of  the  two." 
The  preacher's  self-preparation  for  making 
the  sermon  involves  the  following  con- 
siderations, which  are  offered,  not  with  the 
idea  that  the  preacher  is  to  have  them 
specifically  and  distinctly  in  consciousness 
every  time  he  prepares  a  discourse,  but 
rather  as  indicating  his  abiding  homiletic 
temper. 


THE   MAKING   OF   THE   DISCOURSE      105 

(1)  Am  I  physically,  intellectually,  and  spiritu- 
ally prepared  to  make  this  sermon?    If 
not,  I  will  try  to  become  so. 
o.  Physical  Fitness. 

This  is  grounded  in  the  fact,  increasingly 
recognized  in  effective  modern  preach- 
ing, that  the  entire  man  gets  into  the 
sermon.  A  fine  and  subtle  physical 
quality  goes  out  from  a  preacher  in 
robust  bodily  health  into  the  product 
of  his  brain  and  heart  that  is  a  pro- 
nounced force  in  persuasive  preaching. 
The  physiology  of  preaching,  as  it 
might  be  termed,  must  receive  more 
and  more  attention  in  our  times. 
Keeping  himself  in  vigorous  physical 
tone  is  one  of  the  modern  preacher's 
first  duties. 
6.  Intellectual  Fitness. 

This  includes  (a)  the  mastery  of  the 
materials  of  discourse,  (b)  the  mental 
temper  for  the  invention  of  suitable 
expression. 
It  not  infrequently  happens  that,  after  a 
preacher  has  the  materials  well  in 
hand,  his  mind  is  strangely  paralyzed 
in  the  sphere  of  composition.  He 
cannot  write ;  his  ideas  refuse  to  get 


106  FOR   PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

expressed.  In  such  a  situation  the 
reading  of  a  quickening  author  may 
release  the  ability  to  compose,  and  the 
preacher  will  begin  and  continue  to 
write  with  utmost  freedom  and  de- 
light. Many  a  preacher  has  found 
this  simple  device  of  great  value. 
c.  Spiritual  Fitness.^ 

The  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  the 
preacher  in  the  making  of  the  sermon 
is  as  essential  as  in  the  delivery  of  it. 
Without  such  influence  the  product 
is  not  a  sermon,  no  matter  how  perfect 
its  order,  or  how  eloquent  its  style. 
Earnest  prayer  and  spiritual  medita- 
tion should  accompany  the  prepara- 
tion as  the  delivery  of  the  discourse. 
Metaphorically,  every  sermon  should 
be  made  with  a  preacher  on  his  knees. 
Spurgeon  :  "  Prepare  your  heart,  then 
your  sermon."  Trumbull :  "  No  prep- 
aration of  a  sermon  is  complete  until 
the  preacher  is  prepared  in  his  heart 
to  feel  the  truth  as  vital  to  his  very 
life." 

Professor  Allen's  account  of  Phillips 
Brooks'    method    of   preparation    is 

1  Appendix  XV. 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE   DISCOURSE      107 

highly  suggestive  to  every  true 
preacher:  "He  first  opened  his  soul 
to  the  influence  of  the  truth  which  was 
to  constitute  his  message,  devising  the 
most  forcible  method  in  order  to  make 
it  appeal  to  his  own  heart,  and  then 
under  the  influence  of  this  conviction 
he  wrote  his  sermon.  He  studied 
its  effect  upon  himself  before  studying 
how  to  reach  a  congregation.  This 
process  kept  him  natural,  sincere, 
and  unaffected,  preserving  his  per- 
sonality in  all  that  he  said,  and 
free  from  the  dangers  of  convention- 
alism or  artificiality."  Thus  he  was 
true  to  his  definition  of  preaching 
"truth  through  personality/*  and  he 
fulfilled  in  himself  his  requirement: 
"The  preparation  for  the  ministry 
must  be  nothing  less  than  the  knead- 
ing and  tempering  of  a  man's  whole 
nature  till  it  becomes  of  such  con- 
sistency and  quality  as  to  be  capable 
of  transmission." 
(2)  I  desire  and  intend  that  every  sermon  I 

make  shall  be  for  use. 
This  desire  and  intention  of  the  preacher 

delivers  him  from  false  aims  in  the  con- 


108  FOR  PULPIT  AND  PLATFORM 

struction    of    discourse.     It    tends    to 
impart   to   the   sermon    a   pronounced 
spiritual  purpose  and  quality  that  saves 
it  from  undue  intellectuality,  and  makes 
it  more  impressive  and  persuasive. 
Spurgeon :  "  Never  begin  to  prepare  till 
you  have  clearly  decided  whether  you 
want  to  gain  men's  praise  or  save  men's 
souls." 
(3)  What  use  do  I  propose  to  make  of  this 
sermon  ?  ^ 
Effective  preaching  consists  in  securing  an 
object,  rather  than  in  unfolding  a  subject. 
The  expert  hunter  of  game  teaches  an 
indispensable    homiletic     lesson:      "A 
Briton  and  a  Boer  went  out  shooting 
deer  for  food.     The  Briton  took  a  case 
of  cartridges  with  him,  the  Boer  took 
one.    *Why,'  asked  the  Briton,  'do  you 
take  only   one   cartridge?'    'Because,' 
was  the  reply,  'I  want  only  one  deer.'" 
The  true  preacher  always  remembers  the 
target  as  well  as  the  shot. 
Home:   "The  test  of  a  good  sermon  is 
not  that  it  satisfies  canons  of  style, 
but  that  it  achieves  certain  moral  and 
spiritual  ends." 

1  Appendix  XVI. 


THE   MAKING   OF   THE    DISCOURSE      109 

According  to  an  English  journal,  a  minister, 
who  could  not  secure  the  charge  of  a 
church,  once  implored  Joseph  Parker  to 
explain  the  reason  of  this  diflBculty.  He 
was  scholarly,  studious,  well  informed, 
willing  to  work;  but  no  church  would 
look  at  him.  He  offered  to  stand  up  in 
the  corner  of  Dr.  Parker's  study  and 
preach  his  best  sermon.  At  the  end  of 
the  performance.  Dr.  Parker  delivered 
his  verdict.  It  was  brief,  incisive,  and 
summary.  "Now  I  can  tell  you,"  he 
said,  "why  you  cannot  get  a  church. 
For  the  last  half  hour  you  have  not  been 
trying  to  get  something  into  my  mind, 
but  something  off  yours;  that  is  the 
reason. " 
(4)  I  am  determined  not  to  fetter  myself  with 
the  notion  that  I  must  make  a  "great 
sermon." 
This  does  not  mean  that  the  preacher  is 
not  to  grapple  with  great  subjects,  but 
that  he  is  not  to  be  obsessed  with  the 
unholy  ambition  to  do  what  it  is  not 
in  him  to  do  at  a  given  date.  Quintilian 
tells  of  the  advice  that  Julius  Florus 
gave  to  his  nephew,  Julius  Secundus,  who 
was  on  his  third  day  in  his  effort  to  find 


110  FOR  PULPIT  AND  PLATFORM 

a  suitable  exordium  for  a  subject,  and 
who  was  discouraged  for  the  present 
effort,  and  in  despair  with  reference  to 
the  future.  "Do  you  wish  to  write 
better  than  you  can?''  "Melius  dicere 
vis  quam  potes  ?  " 
Robert  Hall  used  to  say :  "  I  am  tor- 
mented with  the  desire  of  writing  better 
than  I  can."  By  endeavoring  to  make 
a  sermon  that  is  clearly  beyond  the 
preacher's  present  ability  to  make  he 
stretches  the  bow  of  his  mind  beyond 
its  normal  tension,  and  it  loses  its 
elasticity.  The  result  is  that  the  sermon 
has  a  strained,  unnatural,  and  even 
thin  quality.  It  is  far  from  being 
"great." 
(5)  And  yet  I  am  determined  to  make  this 
sermon  the  best  possible  product  of  my 
present  life  and  power. 
That  is  to  say,  the  Christian  preacher 
should  always  aim  to  do  his  best.  It 
has  been  sometimes  remarked  of  popular 
preachers,  especially  those  of  the  more 
sensational  type,  that  they  deliberately 
intend  to  produce  a  great  effort  about 
once  a  month  and  in  the  meantime  fill 
in  with  "chips  and  sawdust."    This  is 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE   DISCOURSE     111 

positive  and  unpardonable  homiletic 
wickedness.  Suppose  these  men,  if  such 
there  are,  after  having  consciously  and 
deliberately  preached  below  their  normal 
level  should  be  suddenly  summoned  into 
the  presence  of  their  Master  to  render  up 
their  homiletic  account,  with  what 
shamefacedness  would  they  be  covered ! 
Baxter:  "I  preached  as  never  sure  to 
preach  again  and  as  a  dying  man  to 
dying  men." 
(6)  I  will  try  to  see  and  to  feel  my  audience 
as  I  write. 
This  tends  to  impart  reality,  point,  fervor, 
and  vividness  to  discourse.  It  has  been 
said  of  Phillips  Brooks  that  as  he  sat  in 
his  study  writing  his  sermon  it  was  as 
if  his  hearers  were  before  him.  He 
probably  possessed  this  power  in  excep- 
tional measure.  But  it  is  a  power  that 
every  preacher  can  cultivate.  It  has 
been  remarked  of  Dr.  Roswell  D.  Hitch- 
cock that  he  used  to  write  his  sermons 
out  loud  in  order  that  they  might  be 
concrete  and  freed  from  artificiality. 


112  FOR   PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

II.  The  Work  of  Composing  the  Discourse 

Emerson :  '^It  is  one  of  the  laws  of  composi- 
tion that,  let  the  preparation  have  been 
how  elaborate,  how  extended  soever,  the 
moment  of  casting  is  yet  not  less  critical, 
not  the  less  all-important  moment  on 
which  the  whole  success  depends." 

1.  Do  not  defer  the  work  of  composition  till  late 

in  the  week. 
In  this  day  of  multifarious  demands  upon  the 
minister,  especially  if  he  is  young  and  a 
novice  in  sermon  writing,  the  habit  of  post- 
poning the  making  of  the  sermon  puts  too 
great  a  strain  upon  him  and  damages  the 
quality  of  discourse.  Unless  he  is  made  of 
iron  he  will  be  physically  fagged  when  he 
delivers  his  sermon,  and  in  our  time  this  will 
never  do. 

Carlyle:  "Edward  Irving's  uniform  custom 
was  to  shut  himself  up  all  Saturday,  be- 
came invisible  all  that  day;  and  had  his 
sermon  ready  before  going  to  bed,  sermons 
an  hour  long  or  more ;  it  could  not  be  done 
in  one  day  except  as  a  kind  of  extempore 
thing." 

2.  Write  as  much  as  possible  at  a  single  sitting. 

The  continuousness  of  composition  imparts 


THE   MAKING   OF   THE   DISCOURSE      113 

to  it,  as  Shedd  says :  "A  certain  flow  and 
flood." 
Carlyle:  "Such  swiftness  of  mere  writing 
after  due  energy  of  preparation  is  doubtless 
the  right  method;  the  hot  furnace  hav- 
ing long  worked  and  simmered,  let  the 
pure  gold  flow  out  at  one  gush." 

3.  "Write  with  fury";    that  is,  write  rapidly 

provided  always  that  you  write  with  reason- 
able accuracy.^ 
"Facility  is  the  result  of  forgotten  toil." 
Quintilian:    "Let  our  pen  be  at  first  slow, 
provided  that  it  be  accurate.     By  writing 
quickly  we  are  not  brought  to  write  well, 
but  by  writing  well  we  are  brought  to 
write  quickly." 
Virgil  used  to  say  of  himself  that  he  licked 
his  verses  into  shape  as  bears  licked  their 
cubs. 

4.  Do  not  stop  to  correct  while  in  the  glow  of 

composition. 

5.  If  composition  grows  slow  and  tedious,  stop 

and  read  what  you  have  written.  This 
process  tends  to  impart  to  the  mind  a  fresh 
impetus  toward  writing,  somewhat  as  the 
leaper  runs  over  a  certain  ground  that  with 
gathered  velocity  he  may  leap  the  farther. 

*  Appendix  XVII. 
I 


114  FOR  PULPIT  AND  PLATFORM 

III.  The  Work  Subsequent  to  the  Composing 
OF  the  Discourse 

1.  The    work    of    correction.       "Correct    with 

phlegm,"  that  is,  with  coldness,  deliberate- 

ness,  criticalness,  provided  always  that  you 

do  not  abnormally  find  fault  with  your  work. 

This  includes : 

(1)  The  method  of  the  sermon. 

It  not  infrequently  happens  that  the  chang- 
ing of  the  order  of  the  main  divisions 
greatly  improves  the  method,  and  it  may 
be  about  all  the  criticism  that  is  called 
for. 

(2)  The  separate  words  with  a  view  to  clear- 

ness and  vividness. 
Cut  out  abstract  words  and  insert  concrete 
words.  Avoid  slang,  but  use  the  ver- 
nacular. This  may  quite  change  the 
atmosphere  of  the  sermon,  making  it  the 
product  of  a  public  speaker  rather  than 
of  a  scholar. 

(3)  Clauses  and  sentences  with  reference  to  the 

economizing    of   the    attention    of   the 
hearers. 
See  on  this  point  Spencer's  "The  Philos- 
ophy of  Style,"  and  read  in  connection 
with  it  the  qualification  named  by  Hill 


THE   MAKING   OF  THE   DISCOURSE      115 

in  his    "Principles  of   Rhetoric,"  page 

164. 
This  is  one  of  the  most  vital  aspects  of 

sermon  criticism. 
Detect  and  correct  the  false  construction 

of  the  following  sentences : 

Nowhere  in  St.  Paul's  Epistles  is  a 
warmer  expression  to  be  found,  of 
exuberant  thanksgiving  and  happiness. 

It  was  the  presbyters'  duty  to  turn 
back  those  who  had  gone  astray  from 
the  error  of  their  ways. 

We  should  think  it  unseemly  to  criticize 
the  last  word  of  one  who  has  per- 
formed so  many  useful  services  to 
literature  with  extreme  severity. 

The  President  had  only  been  here  a  few 
minutes. 

At  any  instant,  day  or  night,  an  explo- 
sion may  blow  the  vessel  which  sup- 
ports you  to  fragments. 

The  Austrians  and  Germans  are  pushing 
their  three  great  attacks  against  the 
Russian  Armies  defending  Warsaw 
with  undiminished  energy. 

Lay  daily  the  unconscious  impress  of  a 
high  and  noble  character  upon  his 
friend. 


116  FOR  PULPIT  AND  PLATFORM 

A    correspondent    will     describe     how 
Tommy  Atkins  gets  his  breakfast  in 
one  of  our  early  numbers. 
The  Board  of  Education  has  resolved 
to  erect  a  building  large  enough  to 
accommodate  500  pupils  three  stories 
high. 
Richard  Grant  White  used  to  call  the  English 
language  the  "Grammarless  Tongue/'  and 
so  it  is.     Consequently,  in  order  to  achieve 
clearness  and  exactness  of  style  great  care 
must   be   exercised   as  to  the  location   in 
sentences   of  words   and   clauses.     This   is 
one  of  the  most  delicate  and  rewarding  of 
the   preacher's   critical   tasks.     It   requires 
and  cultivates  a  feeling  for  style,  which  is 
one  of  the  finest  homiletic  assets. 
2.  The  preacher  getting  the  sermon  and  himself 
ready  for  its  delivery. 
Observe  that  this  is  concerned  with  a  later  stage 
in  the  preparation  of  the  sermon  than  self- 
preparation  in  writing  the  sermon. 
It  includes : 

(1)  Mastering  the  manuscript,  if  the  sermon 
is  to  be  read. 

Hague:  "Always  be  master  of  your 
manuscript ;  never  allow  it  to  master 
you." 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE   DISCOURSE      117 

(2)  The  intellectual  mastery  of  the  material 

and  the  order  of  thought,  if  the  sermon 
is  to  be  delivered  extemporaneously. 

(3)  The  preacher's  personal  spiritual  prepara- 

tion for  delivering  the  sermon. 

Skinner:  "There  is  no  action  more  full 
of  spirituality  than  the  just  delivery 
of  an  evangelical  sermon.  The  short- 
coming, therefore,  in  preparation  to 
preach,  however  elaborate  and  com- 
plete, is  radical,  if  the  preacher  has 
omitted  to  prepare  himself.'' 

Ponder  afresh  the  truth  of  the  sermon  until  it 
takes  complete  possession  of  you  and  is  colored  by 
your  own  heart's  blood ;  until  your  whole  personality 
is  filled  with  it,  and  is  swayed  by  it.  Then  it  will 
be  winged  with  power  and  persuasion  in  the  delivery. 
It  has  been  said  of  John  Knox  that  he  was  sermon- 
possessed,  which  accounted  for  his  impressiveness  in 
the  pulpit. 

Bishop  Gregg :  "  There  are  three  things  to  aim  at  in 
public  speaking ;  first  to  get  into  your  subject,  then 
to  get  your  subject  into  yourself,  and  lastly  to  get 
your  subject  into  your  hearers." 

Spurgeon's  amazing  power  largely  centered  in  the 
flaming  spiritual  passion  that  went  out  of  his  own 
soul  into  his  preaching.    No  finer  tribute  was  ever 


118  FOR   PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

paid  to  one  great  preacher  by  another  than  that  of 
MacLaren  to  Spurgeon :  "  I  have  been  reading  a 
number  of  Spurgeon's  sermons  and  have  been 
wonderfully  helped  and  stirred  by  them.  There  is  a 
passion  of  love  and  a  grand  fullness  of  trust  in  Christ 
which  have  stirred  and  rebuked  me." 

Does  the  foregoing  presentation  of  the  making  of 
the  sermon  leave  the  impression  that  the  process  is 
too  minute,  and  the  task  too  difficult  ?  If  increasing 
efficiency  in  communicating  saving  truth  in  pulpit 
discourse  is  a  preacher's  ideal  and  holy  ambition,  this 
is  the  price  to  be  paid. 

This  study  cannot  be  more  fittingly  closed  than  by 
giving  the  testimony  of  two  of  the  world's  greatest 
preachers  concerning  the  preparation  of  sermons. 

Chalmers :  "  I  preached  yesterday  to  a  full  house, 
and  it  gratifies  me  to  think  that  labor  expended  on  a 
sermon  does  not  render  it  the  less  but  the  more 
acceptable." 

Brooks:  "I  have  been  thinking  of  one  whom  I 
knew  —  nay,  one  whom  I  know  —  his  own  brother 
—  who  finished  his  preaching  years  ago  and  went  to 
God.  How  does  all  this  seem  to  him  ?  —  these  rules 
and  regulations  of  the  preacher's  art,  which  he  once 
studied  as  we  are  studying  them  now.  Let  us  not 
doubt  that,  while  he  has  seen  a  glory  and  strength 
in  the  truth  which  we  preach  such  as  we  never  have 
conceived;  he  has  seen  also  that  no  expedient  which 


THE   MAKING   OF   THE   DISCOURSE       119 

can  make  that  truth  a  little  more  effective  in  its 
presentation  to  the  world  is  trivial,  or  undignified, 
or  unworthy  of  the  patient  care  and  study  of  the 
minister  of  Christ.''  ^ 

1  Appendix  XVIII. 


APPENDIX 


Thomas  Arnold:  "I  should  advise  the  constant 
use  of  the  biography  of  good  men.  " 

Carlyle  :  "  There  is  no  heroic  poem  but  is  at  bottom 
a  biography,  the  Hfe  of  a  man ;  and  there  is  no  Hf e  of  a 
man,  faithfully  recorded,  but  is  a  heroic  poem  of  its 
sort,  rhymed  or  unrhymed.  Biography  is  the  most 
universally  pleasant,  universally  profitable  of  all 
reading." 

Emerson:  "There  is  no  history,  only  biography. 
An  institution  is  but  the  lengthened  shadow  of  a  man. 
All  history  resolves  itself  very  easily  into  biography 
of  a  few  stout  and  earnest  persons." 

Andrew  D.  White:  "It  may  be  allowed  to  a 
hard-worked  man  who  has  passed  beyond  the  allotted 
threescore  years  and  ten  to  say  that  he  has  found  in 
general  religious  biography,  Jewish,  Catholic,  and 
Protestant,  and  in  the  writings  of  men  nobly  inspired 
in  all  these  fields,  a  help  without  which  his  life  would 
have  been  poor  indeed." 

Washington  Gladden:  "Biographical  studies 
have  opened  many  productive  fields ;  there  is  no  more 
effective  or  convincing  presentation  of  saving  truth 
than  that  which  is  given  in  the  life  of  a  good  man  or 
woman,  and  nothing  is  more  profoundly  interesting  to 

121 


122  FOR   PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

any  sort  of  audience.  Best  of  all  books  for  the  pastor 
are  the  good  biographies.  Many  successful  pastors 
bear  testimony  that  they  have  found  more  stimulus  in 
books  of  this  class  than  in  any  other  kind  of  literature. 
Now,  as  always,  life  is  the  light  of  men." 

G.  H.  Morrison  :  "  I  have  through  my  life  been  a 
reader  of  biographies,  which  I  take  to  be  the  most 
fruitful  of  all  reading." 

John  Clifford  :  "  A  powerful  witness  to  the  interest 
that  there  is  in  human  life  is  the  fact  that  nothing 
stirs  us  so  deeply  or  helps  us  so  abidingly  as  biography. 
The  story  of  the  building  up  of  a  man  from  base  to 
superstructure  still  enthralls  us,  and  howsoever  dif- 
ferently literature  may  be  classified  as  poetry  or  as 
philosophy,  as  history  or  as  romance,  the  golden  thread 
that  runs  through  it,  and  that  constitutes  its  perennial 
charm,  is  biography.  To  look  into  a  man's  life,  and 
see  the  stock  of  ideas  with  which  he  starts ;  to  recognize 
the  difficulties  that  he  has  to  face,  and  that  facing, 
he  conquers;  to  watch  him  through  his  successful 
struggles,  sympathetic  with  his  falls,  and  desirous 
that  he  may  not  only  escape  falling  again,  but  may 
derive  from  these  falls  inspirations  to  ascend,  we  find 
ourselves  led  on  from  stage  to  stage  in  the  man's 
career,  more  and  more  enriched  by  what  is  presented 
to  us,  and  inspired  by  what  we  ourselves  hope  to  profit 
by." 

J.  H.  JowETT,  it  is  said,  always  has  a  book  of  biog- 
raphy on  his  study  table  because  it  gives  him  "the 
Gospel  in  real  life." 


APPENDIX  123 

Phillips  Brooks,  in  "Essays  and  Addresses,"  has 
a  valuable  address  on  biography,  page  452. 

Professor  Currier,  in  his  introduction  to  the 
volume,  "Nine  Great  Preachers,"  has  several  sugges- 
tive pages  on  biography,  pages  3-28. 

II 

The  testimonies  and  examples  concerning  hard  work 
as  essential  to  success  are  drawn  from  various  fields  of 
endeavor. 

1.  Literature.  President  Eliot  on  Francis  Park- 
man,  the  historian :  "  Parkman's  health  was  his  enemy, 
and  rigid  and  constant  attention  to  his  vocation  was  a 
physical  impossibility.  He  could  rarely  keep  his 
mind  for  more  than  twenty  minutes  at  a  time  upon  a 
given  occupation.  But  he  made  use  of  the  moments 
and  accomplished  wonders  in  the  results  attained.  His 
career  is  a  model  for  students  in  virtue  of  the  patience 
and  endurance  shown  and  the  grand  final  achieve- 
ments." Mr.  Cross,  the  husband  of  George  Eliot, 
remarks  that  she  had  "  the  enormous  faculty  of  taking 
pains."  And  she  herself  has  said  :  "  What  courage  and 
patience  are  wanted  for  every  life  that  aims  to  produce 
anything ! " 

2.  Art.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  :  "  You  must  have 
no  dependence  on  your  own  genius.  If  you  have  great 
talents,  industry  will  improve  them;  if  you  have  but 
moderate  abilities,  industry  will  supply  their  deficiency. 
Nothing  is  denied  to  well-directed  labor;  nothing  is  to 
be  attained  without  it." 


124  FOR   PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

3.  Statesmanship.  Daniel  Webster,  applying  to 
himself  the  words  of  Alexander  Hamilton:  "Men 
give  me  some  credit  for  genius.  All  the  genius  I  have 
lies  just  in  this  :  when  I  have  a  subject  in  hand  I  study 
it  profoundly.  Day  and  night  it  is  before  me.  I 
explore  it  in  all  its  bearings.  My  mind  becomes  per- 
vaded with  it.  Then  the  effort  which  I  make  the  people 
are  pleased  to  call  the  fruit  of  genius.  It  is  the  fruit 
of  labor  and  thought." 

John  Morley  on  Gladstone :  "  Toil  was  his  native 
element;  and  though  he  found  himself  possessed  of 
many  inborn  gifts,  he  was  never  visited  by  the  dream 
so  fatal  to  many  a  well-laden  argosy,  that  genius  alone 
does  all.  There  was  nobody  like  him  when  it  came  to 
difficult  business  for  bending  his  whole  strength  to  it, 
like  a  mighty  archer  stringing  a  stiff  bow." 

George  William  Curtis  in  his  Eulogy  of  Charles 
Sumner:  "His  classmates  in  Harvard  College,  gayly 
returning  late  at  night,  saw  the  studious  light  shining 
in  his  window.  The  boy  was  hard  at  work,  already 
in  those  plastic  years  storing  his  mind  and  memory, 
which  seemed  indeed  *an  inability  to  forget,'  with  the 
literature  and  historic  lore  which  gave  his  later  discourse 
such  amplitude  and  splendor  of  illustration. 

"  He  never  lost  this  vast  capacity  for  work,  and  his 
life  had  no  idle  hours.  Long  afterwards,  when  he  was 
in  Paris,  recovering  from  the  blow  in  the  Senate, 
ordered  not  to  think  or  read,  and  daily,  as  his  physician 
lately  tells  us,  undergoing  a  torture  of  treatment  which 
he  refused  to  mitigate  by  anesthetics,  simply  unable 


APPENDIX  125 

to  do  nothing,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  and  col- 
lection of  engravings,  in  which  he  became  an  expert. 
And  I  remember  in  the  midsummer  of  1871,  when  he 
remained,  as  was  his  custom,  in  Washington,  after  the 
city  was  deserted  by  all  but  its  local  population,  and 
when  I  saw  him  daily,  that  he  rose  at  seven  in  the 
morning  and  with  but  a  slight  breakfast  at  nine  sat  at 
his  desk  in  the  library  hard  at  work  until  five  in  the 
afternoon.  It  was  his  vacation;  the  weather  was 
tropical ;  and  he  was  sixty  years  old.  The  renowned 
Senator  at  his  post  was  still  the  solitary  midnight 
student  of  the  College." 

4.  Law.  RuFus  Choate:  "One  of  Choate's  most 
remarkable  traits  of  character  was  his  unresting, 
unflagging  industry,  coupled  with  a  readiness  to  make 
any  and  every  sacrifice  of  his  own  likings  or  enjoyment 
to  the  one  great  object  of  securing  the  highest  position 
in  his  profession.  This  was  with  him  no  vulgar  ambi- 
tion, but  simply  a  love  of,  and  a  desire  for,  perfection. 
Great  and  brilliant  as  were  his  talents,  his  success 
was  largely  due  to  his  profound  and  constant  studies.'' 

5.  The  Stage.  Ellen  Terry  on  Sir  Henry  Irving : 
"  Only  a  great  actor  finds  the  difiiculties  of  the  actor's 
art  infinite.  Even  up  to  the  last  five  years  of  his  life, 
Henry  Irving  was  striving,  striving.  He  never  rested 
on  old  triumphs,  never  found  a  part  in  which  there 
was  no  more  to  do." 

6.  The  Ministry.  Norman  McLeod  :  "  I  feel  con- 
vinced that  every  man  has  given  him  of  God  much 
more  than  he  has  any  idea  of,  and  that  he  can  help 


126  FOR  PULPIT  AND  PLATFORM 

on  the  world's  work  more  than  he  knows  of.  What 
we  want  is  the  single  eye  that  will  see  what  our  work  is, 
the  humility  to  accept  it,  however  lowly,  the  faith 
to  do  it  for  God,  the  perseverance  to  go  on  till  death." 

Robert  W.  Dale  :  "  It  is  fom*  and  twenty  years 
since  I  left  college,  and  the  temptations  to  desultoriness 
which  I  have  either  yielded  to  or  mastered  would 
enable  me  to  go  on  for  four  and  twenty  hours  with  the 
study  of  the  perils  which  will  beset  you  as  soon  as 
you  leave  these  walls." 

From  an  article  in  The  Independent  by  a  prominent 
preacher:  "My  father  bequeathed  to  me  no  legacy 
save  only  his  capacity  for  industry.  But  if  there  is 
one  chief  requisite  for  success  in  my  profession  it  is 
this;  and  if  there  is  one  reason  above  all  others  for 
failure  it  is  in  the  lack  of  it  in  many,  which  lack  is  a 
loathsome  thing,  for  it  is  laziness.  I  work  more  hours 
in  the  day  than  any  of  my  people ;  I  work,  as  must  all 
clergymen,  seven  days  in  the  week ;  I  work  the  hardest 
when  my  people  have  most  leisure;  while  even  my 
vacations,  although  long,  considering,  must  all  be  spent 
in  work,  preparing  for  next  season,  reading,  studying, 
and  writing.  If  any  one  in  this  calling  complains, 
search  here  for  the  reason  before  you  look  elsewhere." 

Samuel  B.  Capen,  the  eminent  Boston  layman,  to 
a  company  of  ministers:  "Will  you  allow  me  to  say 
that  there  is  quite  a  prevalent  idea  that  many  of  the 
pulpits  would  have  more  power  if  the  preachers  had 
more  method?  I  have  known  cases  where  men  wasted 
their  time  the  first  of  the  week,  to  be  driven  at  the 


APPENDIX  127 

end  almost  to  distraction,  sometimes  way  into  Sabbath 
morning,  in  getting  through  their  preparations.  Such 
shiftlessness  would  ruin  any  modern  business.  One 
of  our  most  popular  preachers  once  told  me  that  he 
was  always  very  careful  to  get  started  early,  plan  to 
lay  out  his  work  and  get  to  a  certain  point  by  the 
middle  of  the  week  and  then  he  knew  he  was  all  right. 
My  wife  can  pack  twice  as  much  into  a  trunk  as  I  can, 
for  she  knows  how  to  economize  the  space  better. 
The  man  that  methodically  and  systematically  econ- 
omizes his  time  can  pack  twice  as  much  work  into  a  year. 
One  of  the  ministers  that  I  know  best,  and  who  does 
grand  work  in  all  directions,  owes  much  of  his  success 
to  his  method.  Why  could  Garfield,  at  a  few  hours* 
notice,  make  an  exhaustive  speech  on  almost  any 
theme?  Carefully  accumulating  material,  methodi- 
cally arranging  it  by  subject,  he  was  always  the  master 
of  any  occasion.  The  work  of  the  ministry  is  too  noble 
to  be  injured  by  carelessness.  The  same  precision 
and  method  which  is  needed  in  every  mercantile  busi- 
ness ought  to  be  yours." 

J.  H.  Jowett:  The  Preacher.  "The  Preacher  in 
His  Study,"  p.  113. 

Ill 

Amiel  in  his  Journal :  "  If  I  have  any  special  power 
of  appreciating  different  shades  of  mind  I  owe  it  no 
doubt  to  the  analysis  I  have  so  perpetually  and  unsuc- 
cessfully practiced  on  myself.  In  fact,  I  have  always 
regarded  myself  as  matter  for  study,  and  what  has 


128  FOR  PULPIT  AND   PLATFORM 

interested  me  most  in  myself  has  been  the  pleasure  of 
having  under  my  hand  a  man,  a  person  in  whom,  as 
an  authentic  specimen  of  human  nature,  I  could  follow, 
without  importunity  or  indiscretion,  all  the  metamor- 
phoses, the  secret  thoughts,  the  heartbeats,  and  the 
temptations  of  himianity/' 

Emerson  in  his  "  Man  Thinking"  :  "  He  learned  that 
in  going  down  into  the  secrets  of  his  own  mind,  he  has 
descended  into  the  secrets  of  all  minds.  The  deeper 
the  orator  dives  into  his  privatest,  secretest  presenti- 
ment, to  his  wonder  he  finds,  this  is  the  most  acceptable, 
most  public,  and  universally  true.  The  people  delight 
in  it;  the  better  part  of  every  man  feels.  This  is  my 
music;  this  is  myself.''  In  his  "Spiritual  Laws"  he 
quotes  Sidney's  maxim :  "  *  Look  in  thy  heart  and 
write.  He  that  writes  to  himself  writes  to  an  eternal 
public.'" 

IV 

Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  :  "  As  he  who  does  not  know 
himself  does  not  know  others,  so  it  may  be  said,  with 
equal  truth,  that  he  who  does  not  know  others,  knows 
himself  but  very  imperfectly." 

Ian  MacLaren  :  "  The  minister  ought  to  be  soaked 
in  life;  not  that  his  sermons  may  never  escape  from 
local  details,  but  rather  that,  being  in  contact  with 
the  life  nearest  him,  he  may  state  his  gospel  in  terms 
of  human  experience." 

Henry  Ward  Beecher:  "My  impression  is  that 
preachers  are  quite  as  well  acquainted  with  human 


APPENDIX  129 

nature  as  the  average  of  well-informed  citizens,  but 
far  less  than  lawyers,  or  merchants,  or  teachers,  or 
especially  politicians." 


Phelps:  "That  was  not  a  wise  man  who,  in  the 
time  of  the  Civil  War,  in  a  southwestern  state,  com- 
menced a  sermon  by  laying  a  revolver  on  the  pulpit 
by  the  side  of  the  Bible,  saying  that  his  life  had  been 
threatened  and  that  he  was  g^repared  to  defend  it,  as 
he  would  against  a  mad  dog.  A  humble  Massachusetts 
chaplain  was  his  superior  in  homiletic  tact,  who  was 
compelled  by  General  Butler  to  preach  to  a  wealthy 
Presbyterian  congregation  of  Confederates  in  Norfolk, 
who  were  also  in  their  seats  on  the  Sabbath  morning, 
in  obedience  to  military  order.  Said  the  preacher  in 
commencing  his  discourse :  *  My  friends,  I  am  here  by 
no  choice  of  my  own.  I  came  to  your  city  as  a  chaplain 
to  look  after  the  souls  of  my  neighbors  who  are  here, 
as  I  am,  under  military  rule.  I  stand  in  the  place  of 
your  honored  pastor  by  command  of  my  military 
superior ;  but  I  am  a  preacher  of  the  same  Christ  whom 
you  possess,  and  I  ask  you  to  hear  me  for  His  sake.' 
He  had  a  respectful  hearing  for  the  next  three  months." 
And  no  wonder.  That  approach  showed  homiletic 
genius  of  the  highest  order.  No  finer  example  could 
be  found.  Every  clause  and  word  of  it  will  bear  the 
most  critical  analysis. 


130  FOR  PULPIT  AND   PLATFORM 

VI 

Alexander:  "They  should  be  great  themes  — 
the  greatest  themes.  The  great  questions  which  we 
should  like  to  have  settled  before  we  die — which 
we  should  ask  an  Apostle  about  if  he  were  here.  These 
are  to  general  Scripture  truth  what  great  mountains 
are  in  geography.  A  man  should  begin  early  to 
grapple  with  great  themes.  An  athlete  gains  might 
by  great  exertions;  so  that  a  man  does  not  over- 
come his  powers,  the  more  he  wrestles  the  better, 
but  he  must  wrestle,  and  not  merely  take  a  great 
subject  and  dream  over  it  or  play  with  it. 

Robinson  :  "  Depend  on  it,  no  subject  you  can 
handle  is  so  difficult,  and  no  thought  you  can  have 
on  it  so  profound,  but  that  if  the  thinking  be  clear  to 
yourself,  you  can  make  both  your  subject  and  your 
thoughts  on  it  clear  to  others.  The  truth  is,  all  sound 
minds  at  bottom  are  rational.  Every  man's  self- 
respect  is  appealed  to  when  his  reason  is  addressed; 
and  every  man,  however  much  he  may  for  the  moment 
be  pleased  with  the  mere  tickling  of  his  fancy,  will 
resent  it  in  the  end  with  revulsion  of  feeling  as  if  he 
had  been  imposed  upon.  Lettered  and  unlettered  alike 
will  listen  to  clear,  just  thought,  and  they  will  be  sure 
to  come  again  for  more.  Sheep  will  follow  a  basket  of 
corn,  but  not  a  basket  of  leaves." 

Brooks  :  "  Great  utterance  of  great  truths,  great 
enforcement  of  great  duties,  as  distinct  from  the  minute 
and  subtle  and  ingenious  treatment  of  little  topics. 


APPENDIX  131 

side  issues  of  the  soul's  life,  bits  of  anatomy,  the  bric- 
a-brac  of  theology.  Turn  to  Barrow  or  Tillotson  or 
Bushnell  —  *0f  being  imitators  of  Christ/  ^That  God 
is  the  only  happiness  of  man/  *  Every  man's  life  a 
plan  of  God.'  When  the  preacher  lays  vigorous  hold  of 
these  great  truths  of  his  message,  and  they  lay  sovereign 
hold  on  him,  he  comes  out  on  to  open  ground.  His 
work  grows  freer  and  bolder  and  broader.  He  loves 
the  simplest  truths  which  run  like  rivers  through  all 
life.  God's  sovereignty,  Christ's  Redemption,  man's 
hope  in  the  Spirit,  the  privilege  of  duty,  the  love  of 
man  in  the  Savior,  make  the  strong  music  which  his 
soul  tries  to  catch." 

He  himself  deals  in  such  subjects  as.  The  Withheld 
Completions  of  Life,  The  Soul's  Refuge  in  God,  The 
Food  of  Man. 

VII 

Whately:  "Those  who  place  before  themselves  a 
term  instead  of  a  proposition  imagine  that  because 
they  are  treating  of  one  thing,  they  are  discussing  one 
question.  Unpracticed  composers  are  apt  to  fancy 
that  they  shall  have  the  greater  abundance  of  matter 
the  wider  extent  of  subject  they  comprehend;  but 
experience  shows  that  the  reverse  is  the  fact.  The 
more  general  and  extensive  view  will  often  suggest 
nothing  to  the  mind  but  vague  and  trite  remarks; 
when,  upon  narrowing  the  field  of  discussion,  many 
interesting  questions  of  detail  present  themselves." 

Day  :  "  Invention  is  an  originating,  creative  process 


132  FOR   PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

in  its  essential  nature.  As  such  it  is  the  most  proper 
and  delightful  work  of  a  rational  being,  and  whenever 
it  is  pursued  imparts  a  pleasure  which  itself  fires  anew 
the  energy  of  the  inventive  faculty.  It  is  specific 
views  that  furnish  the  occasion  of  original  invention. 
In  them  the  writer  shuns  the  general  commonplace 
notions  that  are  familiar  to  all.  The  more  specific 
and  definite,  therefore,  the  theme,  the  easier  will  be 
the  work  of  invention.  Caution  only  is  necessary  that 
the  field  of  view  be  not  too  limited  for  the  writer's 
power  of  invention,  since  only  the  most  vigorous  and 
practiced  writer  can  take  the  most  minute  and  particu- 
lar views." 

VIII 

Vinet:  "Order  is  the  character  of  true  discourse; 
there  is  no  discourse  without  it.  The  difference 
between  a  common  orator  and  an  eloquent  man  is 
often  nothing  but  a  difference  in  respect  of  disposition. 
Disposition  may  be  eloquent  in  itself,  and  on  close 
examination  we  shall  often  see  that  invention  taken 
by  itself,  and  viewed  as  far  as  it  can  be  apart  from 
disposition,  is  a  comparatively  feeble  intellectual  force. 
Order  is  in  itself  beautiful,  and  everything  beautiful  in 
itself  is  more  beautiful  in  its  place.  Without  a  plan, 
strongly  conceived,  whether  slowly  meditated  or  found 
as  soon  as  sought,  one  cannot  write  with  a  true  inspira- 
tion." 

Herdek  (quoted  by  Vinet) :  "  I  readily  forgive  all 
faults  except  those  which  relate  to  disposition." 


APPENDIX  133 

Bautain  :  "  He  who  knows  not  how  to  form  a  well- 
conceived,  deeply  considered,  and  seriously  elaborated 
plan  will  never  speak  in  a  living  or  an  effective  manner. 
He  may  become  a  rhetorician;  he  will  never  be  an 
orator." 

Genung  (speaking  of  a  literary  production  of  which 
the  essay  is  the  norm) :  "  In  all  the  art  of  composition 
there  is  perhaps  no  more  frequent  source  of  misappre- 
hension, on  the  part  of  young  writers,  than  this  matter 
of  the  plan.  The  structure  of  a  finished  literary  work, 
as  it  lies  before  them  for  perusal,  seems  so  natural, 
so  inevitable,  that  they  easily  get  the  idea  that  it 
never  was  made,  but  sprang  mature  from  the  author's 
brain,  as  Pallas  sprang  from  the  brain  of  Jove.  And 
so  they  imagine  they  have  only  to  surrender  their  think- 
ing to  its  own  unguided  vagaries,  trusting  that  earnest- 
ness and  enthusiasm  will  make  everything  come  out 
right.  But  thought  does  not  shape  itself  spontaneously. 
Nor  will  it  find  it^  natural  order  without  the  trained 
and  vigorous  working  of  the  writer's  best  calculating 
powers.  This  is  the  universal  testimony  of  those 
who  have  achieved  eminence  in  writing.  And  rigid 
analysis  of  any  literary  work  that  leaves  a  definite  and 
remem^berable  impression  on  the  reader's  mind  reveals 
the  invariable  fact  of  a  skillfully  laid  plan;  that  is, 
it  is  found  that  both  main  and  minor  thoughts  follow 
one  another  according  to  natural  laws  of  association, 
and  bear  the  marks  of  intentional  and  studious  arrange- 
ment." 

Carlyle  :  "  Edward  Irving  had  more  thoughts  than 


134  FOR  PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

Chalmers,  but  they  were  not  organized  Hke  his. 
Chalmers'  method  was  the  triumphant  onrush  of  one 
idea  with  its  satellites  and  supporters.  But  Irving's 
wanted  its  definite  head  and  backbone.  That  was 
mostly  a  defect  one  felt  in  traversing  those  grand 
forest  avenues  of  his,  with  their  multifarious  outlooks 
to  right  and  left.  He  had  many  thoughts,  pregnantly 
expressed,  but  they  did  not  tend  all  one  way.  The 
reason  was,  there  were  in  him  infinitely  more  thoughts 
than  in  Chalmers  and  he  took  far  less  pains  in  setting 
them  forth." 

A.  P.  Peabody  :  "  I  had,  not  long  ago,  an  unsought 
conversation  with  a  wise  and  devout  layman^  a  constant 
and  loving  churchgoer,  who  said  to  me,  'The  sermons 
of  some  of  our  brightest  young  ministers  have  no 
backbone,  no  vertebrse.  They  sound  well,  but  when 
the  sermon  is  over,  I  have  no  idea  what  the  preacher 
has  been  driving  at.'  There  seems  to  me  more  truth 
in  this  than  there  ought  to  be.  I  would  say  to  the 
young  minister  :  Never  begin  to  write  a  sermon  till  you 
see  through  it  —  till  you  have  its  subject,  aim,  purpose, 
drift  so  distinctly  defined  in  your  own  mind  that  you 
could  state  it  in  words  which  every  one  could  under- 
stand." 

IX 

RusKiN :  "The  divisions  of  a  church  are  much  like 
the  divisions  of  a  sermon;  they  are  always  right  so 
long  as  they  are  necessary  to  edification,  and  always 
wrong  when  they  are  thrust  upon  the  attention  as 


APPENDIX  135 

divisions  only.  There  may  be  neatness  in  carving 
when  there  is  richness  in  feasting;  but  I  have  heard 
many  a  discourse  and  seen  many  a  church  wall  in  which 
it  was  all  carving  and  no  meat/' 

Theremin  :  "  The  orator  may  announce  the  two  or 
three  parts  which  contain  the  development  proper; 
for  why  should  he  not  carefully  employ  this,  as  well 
as  every  other  opportunity,  to  aid  the  hearer's  atten- 
tion, and  to  facilitate  his  comprehension  of  the  whole?'* 

Brooks  :  "  I  think  that  most  congregations  welcome, 
and  are  not  offended  by,  clear,  precise  statements  of  the 
course  which  a  sermon  is  going  to  pursue,  carefully 
marked  divisions  of  its  thoughts.  Give  your  sermon 
an  orderly  consistent  progress,  and  do  not  hesitate  to 
let  your  hearers  see  it  distinctly,  for  it  will  help  them  to 
remember  what  you  say." 

The  best  example  of  this  precept  in  his  own  preaching 
is  found  in  his  volume  of  sermons  entitled  "Sermons 
for  the  Church  Year." 


ScHOTT :  "  An  animated,  compressed,  forcible  repe- 
tition of  the  most  important  parts  of  a  discourse,  such 
a  repetition  as  will  give  to  the  hearer  an  instantaneous, 
a  comprehensive,  and  an  affecting  view  of  the  entire 
theme,  such  as  shall  combine  in  itself  all  the  power 
which  has  pervaded  the  preceding  divisions,  and  unite 
in  one  focus  their  enlightening  and  warming  rays,  is 
an  essential  aid  to  the  hearer's  intellect,  in  particular 
to  his  memory,  and  is  also  a  persuasive  appeal  to  his 


136  FOR  PULPIT  AND   PLATFORM 

will.     Nothing  can  be  more  appropriate  in  the  finale 
of  a  sermon." 

XI 

The  Independent:  "Men  are  invited  to  church  to 
view  Christ  much  as  men  are  invited  to  visit  a  picture 
gallery  to  view  the  pictures  without  reference  to  pur- 
chase. How  different  the  character  of  a  company 
called  together  to  visit  a  fine  collection  of  pictures, 
and  the  company  that  are  brought  together  on  the  day 
when  these  same  pictures  are  offered  for  sale  under 
the  auctioneer's  hammer  without  reserve !  Our  ordi- 
nary congregations  are  only  spectators  of  the  mental 
picture  set  before  them  of  the  uplifted  Christ,  not  a 
company  of  men  brought  together  for  the  purpose  of 
considering  the  immediate  business  of  buying  '  without 
money  and  without  price'  'the  wine  and  milk'  of 
eternal  life.  This  is  an  age  of  urgent  business  habit 
both  in  thought  and  life.  The  bulk  of  men  are  given 
to  business.  If  they  are  to  be  won  to  Christ  the  man 
who  is  put  in  trust  with  the  Gospel  must  himself  not 
only  *mean  business,'  but  he  must  convince  his  hearers 
that  he  'means  business,'  that  he  has  business  with 
them  on  God's  behaK." 

Emmons  :  It  may  be  reasonably  questioned  whether 
in  the  history  of  the  American  pulpit  there  has  stood 
in  it  a  man,  with  the  possible  exception  of  Jonathan 
Edwards,  who  made  upon  his  hearers  a  more  startling 
and  powerful  impression  than  Nathaniel  Emmons. 
He  has  left  on  record  his  method  of  doing  it.     "  I  paid 


APPENDIX  137 

great  attention  to  the  improvement  or  application  of  my 
discourses.  I  remember,  before  I  began  to  preach,  a 
plain,  judicious,  serious  man  gave  me  the  first  sugges- 
tion that  the  application  of  a  sermon  is  the  most  im- 
portant part  of  it.  I  was  struck  with  the  truth  of  the 
observation,  and  resolved  to  retain  and  improve  the 
advice.  But  when  I  began  to  write  sermons,  I  found 
the  apphcation  to  be  the  most  difficult,  as  well  as  most 
important,  part  of  a  discourse.  But  this,  however,  did 
not  discourage  me  from  endeavoring  to  attain  this 
excellence  in  preaching.  And  in  order  to  attain  it,  I 
found  it  necessary  to  digest  my  subject  well  before  I 
formed  the  plan  of  the  discourse,  and  in  planning  it, 
to  have  a  supreme  respect  to  the  application.  The  last 
thing  in  execution  should  be  the  first  in  intention. 
The  body  of  a  discourse  should  be  adapted  to  prepare 
the  way  for  the  improvement  in  which  the  speaker  is  to 
gain  his  ultimate  end.  And  it  ought  to  be  his  ultimate 
end  in  every  sermon  to  make  lasting  impressions  upon 
the  hearts  and  consciences  of  his  hearers.  But  this 
cannot  be  effected  without  applying  what  has  been 
said  in  the  body  of  the  discourse  to  the  peculiar  state 
and  character  of  both  saints  and  sinners.  The  preacher 
ought  to  be  acquainted  with  the  peculiar  views  and 
feelings  of  all  classes  of  men  under  all  circumstances 
of  life,  and  to  construct  his  discourses  so  as  to  be  able 
in  the  application  to  point  them  to  every  hearer's 
heart.  Accordingly,  I  have  made  it  my  object  to  enter 
into  the  feelings  of  my  people  while  composing  and 
delivering  my  sermons." 


138  FOR  PULPIT  AND  PLATFORM 

Do  not  the  laws  of  the  new  psychology  verify  the 
wisdom  of  this  method  of  homiletie  procedure  as  in 
harmony  with  the  grain  of  our  make,  and  so  as  effective 
in  modern  pulpit  discourse  ? 

Dale  :  After  referring  to  Henry  Ward  Beecher's 
comment  on  Jonathan  Edwards'  preaching:  "In  the 
elaborate  doctrinal  part  of  his  sermons  the  great 
preacher  was  only  getting  his  guns  into  position ;  but 
in  his  'applications'  he  opened  fire  on  the  enemy," 
Dr.  Dale  continues :  "  There  are  too  many  of  us  who 
take  so  much  time  in  getting  our  guns  *into  position,' 
that  we  have  to  finish  without  firing  a  shot.  We  say 
that  we  leave  the  truth  to  do  its  own  work.  We  trust 
to  the  hearts  and  the  consciences  of  our  hearers  to 
apply  it.  Depend  upon  it,  this  is  a  great  and  fatal 
mistake." 

Schott:  "True  eloquence  has  its  triumph  in  the 
peroration." 

Spurgeon  :  "  The  strongest  part  of  all  great  sermons 
is  the  close.  More  depends  on  the  last  two  minutes 
than  on  the  first  ten." 

Fuller:  "What,  Why,  What  then." 

Guthrie  :  "  State,  Prove,  Paint,  Persuade.'* 

XII 
Brastow:  "The  best  free  speech  rests  upon  the 
manuscript.  Writing  has  laid  the  foundation.  Most 
preachers  who  have  succeeded  here  have  begun  with 
the  manuscript.  Mr.  Beecher  and  Dr.  R.  S.  Storrs 
are  examples." 


APPENDIX  139 

Archbishop  Magee  :  One  of  the  greatest  of  Eng- 
land's extemporaneous  preachers :  "  I  never  preach 
any  sermon  of  which  I  have  not  written  out  a  large 
part." 

Boyd  Carpenter  :  "  It  is  by  thinking  with  the  pen 
that  you  will  find  your  way  to  the  heart  of  your  subject. 
No  man  can  afford  to  do  without  his  pen." 

Spurgeon  :  "  If  you  do  not  use  the  pen  in  other  ways, 
you  will  be  wise  to  write  at  least  some  of  your  sermons 
and  revise  them  with  great  care.  In  any  case  write 
them  out  that  you  may  be  preserved  from  a  slipshod 
style." 

CuYLER :  "  If  a  young  minister  ever  expects  to  be  a 
vigorous,  meaty,  instructive,  and  enduring  extempore 
preacher,  he  must  first  spend  several  years  in  care- 
fully writing  out  his  discourses." 

Parkhurst:  "Written  preparation  helps  to  secure 
the  preacher  against  monotonousness  of  idea  and 
monotonousness  of  expression.  It  encourages  in  him 
compactness  of  style.  It  affords  him  greater  opportu- 
nity to  put  things  in  that  pointed  manner  that  will  help 
to  make  them  stick  in  the  memory  of  the  hearer.  It 
helps  to  say  more  in  the  same  length  of  time." 

Cicero:  "The  best  master  of  the  orator  is  his 
pen." 

XIII 

Ainsworth:  "The  words  that  leap  to  the  lip  of 
their  own  accord  are  the  outcome  of  the  real  self  a  man 
has  been  fashioning  all  his  life.    The  thing  that  responds 


140  FOR  PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

to  the  spur  of  the  moment  is  the  habit  of  years.  There 
is  nothing  so  historical  in  a  man's  life  as  his 
impromptus." 

Wilkinson  :  "  A  truth  that  is  worth  remembering 
for  some  time  after  it  has  been  said  is  almost  always 
a  truth  that  has  been  thought  of  for  some  time  before 
it  was  said." 

XIV 

Robinson  :  "  The  key  to  success  in  unwritten  speech 
is  all  in  one  word  —  preparation.  I  go  over  the  points 
as  the  shuttle  passes  to  and  fro,  until  the  mind  travels 
as  if  by  instinct.  It  is  preparing  for  unwritten  speech 
which  has  done  more  than  anything  else  to  make  my 
hair  gray  and  white.  The  man  who  thinks  unwritten 
speech  is  easy  is  —  is  —  a  —  well,  in  a  single  word, 
is  a  man  of  limited  experience." 

It  has  been  said  concerning  the  bearer  of  this  personal 
testimony,  President  Ezekiel  G.  Robinson,  that  there 
has  never  been  in  this  country  a  greater  master  of 
unwritten  speech. 

XV 

JowETT :  "  I  need  not  remind  you,  after  all  I  have 
said  on  the  preacher  in  his  study,  that  a  heavenly  frame 
of  mind  is  the  best  interpreter  of  Scripture.  Unless  our 
study  is  also  our  oratory  we  shall  have  no  visions.  We 
shall  be  'ever  learning  and  never  able  to  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth.'  In  these  realms  even  hard 
work  is  fruitless,  unless  we  have  *the  fellowship  of 


APPENDIX  141 

the  Holy  Spirit/  But  if  our  study  be  our  sanctuary, 
'the  secret  place  of  the  Most  High/  then  the  promise 
of  ancient  days  shall  be  fulfilled  in  us,  'the  eyes  of 
them  that  see  shall  not  be  dimmed  and  the  ears  of  them 
that  hear  shall  hearken';  and  the  work  of  the  Lord 
shall  have  free  course  and  be  glorified." 

XVI 

Jefferson  :  "  No  question  should  be  oftener  on  the 
preacher's  lips  than  'To  what  purpose  is  this?'  That 
is  the  question  with  which  he  should  begin  every 
sermon.  On  the  first  page  he  should  write  in  clean, 
terse  Saxon  the  precise  work  which  this  particular 
sermon  is  intended  to  do ;  and  on  the  last  page  he  should 
write  his  honest  answer  to  the  question :  '  Is  this  sermon 
so  constructed  as  to  be  likely  to  accomplish  the  result 
for  which  it  has  been  written?'" 

Abbott  :  "  I  soon  learned  what  I  regard  as  the  first 
essential  of  an  effective  sermon.  It  must  be  addressed 
to  a  congregation,  not  an  essay  about  a  theme.  It 
must  be  addressed  primarily  not  to  the  intellect,  but 
to  the  will,  and  in  this  respect  it  differs  from  a  lecture, 
which  is  addressed  primarily  not  to  the  will  but  to  the 
intellect.  It  is  like  a  lawyer's  speech  to  a  jury,  not 
like  a  professor's  lecture  to  a  class.  The  minister 
should  never  ask  himself,  What  theme  interests  me? 
but.  What  theme  will  profit  my  congregation?  He 
should  be  able  to  answer  to  himself  the  question: 
What  do  I  want  to  say  to  this  people  at  this  time,  and 
why  do  I  want  to  say  it?    The  first  requisite  of  a  good 


142  FOR  PULPIT   AND   PLATFORM 

sermon,  therefore,  is  a  clearly  defined  object,  and  this 
object,  in  the  preacher's  mind,  should  determine  his 
choice  of  a  subject.  When  this  simple  but  fundamental 
truth  first  dawned  upon  me  I  was  humiliated  to  find  how 
many  sermons  I  was  preaching  without  a  well-defined 
object.  And  to  cure  this  defect  I  began  to  write  down 
in  my  sermon  notebook  before  the  theme  or  the  text 
the  object  which  led  me  to  select  them  both." 

Storks:  "Make  themes  your  means  for  reaching 
persons." 

XVII 

A.  P.  Peabody  :  "  Write  as  rapidly  as  you  can  with- 
out being  careless.  The  more  rapidly  you  write  the 
more  likely  you  are  to  write  short  sentences,  to  avoid 
circumlocutions  and  parentheses,  and  to  express  your- 
self so  that  you  can  be  understood.  But  do  your 
thinking  very  deliberately,  and  have  it  all  done  before 
you  begin  to  write." 

Genung:  "To  write  both  well  and  rapidly  is  a 
desirable  accomplishment;  but  let  the  writer  at  all 
events  seek  to  write  well,  never  letting  any  ill-considered 
or  careless  work  escape  him ;  and  then  if  by  practice 
and  experience  rapidity  also  comes,  it  is  worth  some- 
thing. The  motto  of  the  late  George  Ripley  who,  it  is 
said,  made  his  use  of  the  English  language  a  matter  of 
conscience,  ought  to  be  always  in  the  writer's  heart: 
*He  who  does  not  write  as  well  as  he  can  on  every 
occasion  will  soon  form  the  habit  of  not  writing  well 
at  all. '  " 


APPENDIX  143 

XVIII  " 

MacLaren:  "We  can  scarcely  realize  what  this 
preaching  —  intense,  searching,  impressive,  uplifting 
—  of  MacLaren  meant  to  him,  —  what  an  expenditure 
of  all  the  forces  of  his  being  —  body,  mind,  and  spirit. 
Early  in  his  ministry  he  spoke  of  each  Sunday's  service 
as  a  *woe/  This  feeling  continued  through  his  life, 
and  only  those  who  were  with  him  when  he  was  antici- 
pating, not  only  special  services,  but  his  weekly  prepara- 
tion for  his  own  pulpit  can  know  the  tear  and  wear 
of  spirit  which  that  preparation  involved.  In  retro- 
spect it  seems  little  short  of  a  miracle  that  his  life  of 
strenuous  preparation  for  each  sermon  preached  was 
continued  for  nearly  sixty  years." 


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